I Put On My Robe And Wizard Hat
by Ol'Velsper
Summary: On the eve of the Fourth Grail War, several parties decide to change their battle plans. Now Shirou Urobuchi must try to survive in a world of Magi. He will do it for the lawls.
1. Chapter 1

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon.

Chapter 1: Shirou's been havin' a tough night

"Who the fuck decided to host a goddamned renaissance festival at six o'clock in the evening?" Shirou cried to the heavens. The japanese school boy was currently racing along the empty second floor of his highschool in flagrant violation of several school codes for breaking and entering.

Also for damaging school property, due to the fact he was leaving several scuffed floors from his track shoes, and broken sliding doors in his wake. Yet he didn't quite have it in him to give a fuck. Mostly because his pleas were met by a harsh, barking laugh.

That warning saved his life, and he madly threw himself towards a set of stairs. He barely managed to restrain his scream of fear when a crimson spear stabbed out, uncomfortably grazing his cheek, and racing past the periphery of his vision.

Oh, upgrade that fear to slasher victim fear. He somehow did not begin to shriek like a little girl.

It was a proud moment for him.

Shirou ducked, tucked, and rolled, and his body was jerked, rattled, and bruised while he smashed to the bottom of the staircase. He weakly moaned, pain radiating out of his every pore.

"Hah! At least I know you run well, boy!" The voice of his would-be killer drew his attention up to the stop of the stairs. Much like the boogiemen in most slasher movies, somehow the man in the bodysuit staring down at him had managed to go from being on one end of the hall to shanking range in a single step.

It would have impressed Shirou's track club sensibilities if it wasn't so damn terrifying.

"It was interesting to find someone that could manage to pull off some of those stunts you did." The lean man above Shirou spoke up. "I respect your determination." He gazed down at Shirou with fierce red eyes. A hunter lurked within them. "But it ends here. In honor of your tenacity, I'll answer any last questions you have before I put an end to your life."

Shirou did in fact have many questions. Unfortunately, the slasher victim fear had upgraded to crazy bitch fear. Unfortunately, and as his little sister knew well, this often led to the redhead's mind going off the beaten path.

"Yes, I have a question," he began, staring up at the man.

The blue haired lancer raised an impeccably refined eyebrow over crimson eyes. Which was blue. He stood above Shirou in his skin tight suit.

Which was also blue.

"Are…are you some kind of religious fanatic who's going to gut me and wear my skin to commune with the immortal spirit of Rei Ayanami or something?" Shirou babbled.

Oh yes. His brain really went places when he was stressed out. Stupid places.

However, unlike the flagrantly rude question would suggest, Shirou continued to look up at Lancer with wide eyes. Eyes which were clear of mocking while he stared up at the older man.

The older man, _Cú Chulainn_ or the Heroic Spirit Lancer, just continued to gape at the young man with a look of profound confusion.

Shirou went from nervous to a full blown anxiety attack, thinking this silence meant a confirmation.

"Oh god, just don't flash Rei-chan at me!" He wheezed out in a high pitched voice, holding his hands up to try and prevent the sight from potentially being burned onto his retinas. "I don't want to see Rei-chan!"

The legendary hero of renown and timeless antiquity, merely continued to stare at the Japanese youth for a few more moments in silence.

Shirou felt his hope rise. Was he going to be spared the Rei?

The redhead began to relax from his mission critical levels of stress when no angry shouts, furious punches, or sharp, pointed denouncements as to the moral integrity, and positions favored by his mother followed.

Perhaps…just perhaps Shirou was wrong? Besides the potential dead end of having several feet of steel shoved into him, this man didn't seem to be that bad. Certainly not bad enough to be accused of believing in Rei Ayanami as the next Messiah.

That was crazy talk, after all. Yuki Nagato was the next Coming, after all.

Lancer had taken a quick mental break in the meantime. Crouching low to the ground, Lancer lightly held onto the middle of his curse spear, Gae Bolg and lightly tapped the shaft up ahead his right temple. A strange itch began to gather in his mind ever since the boy before him mentioned this Rei Ayanami.

With the exclusion of his Master, that same itch triggered whenever he needed to communicate and understand the other people around him.

At the moment, the itch was there and even stronger than before. Oddly, the demonic spear in his hand seemed to throb in sympathy to the effect. Well, whatever was going on, it felt strangely compelling in a way that reminded the Son of Light of the geas of his day.

The last thing he wanted to do was ignore a geas and lose from the word go.

Lancer continued gazing straight ahead at nothing in particular. He took a second to glance down at Shirou with a slightly befuddled look to his crimson eyes. "I'm going to have to get back to you on that. You can go ahead and run along for now."

Lancer ignored the teenager's repeatedly babbled thanks. He cleared his throat before he could dash off. "Lancer," He called out after Shirou.

"What?" Shirou had picked himself up and was ready to rush out.

"That's my name." Lancer showed off his sharpened teeth with his next smile. "Remember that this is your question."

"...crap." Shirou turned and ran like his life depended on it. Which he now realized it did, Rei cultist or not. A freaking killer with a code was after him!

* * *

In a place where the ley lines of Fuyuki City met, a grand and terrible machine lurked. Built three hundred years ago, this monstrous device had been designed by three affluent family of Magi, and built for one purpose.

To drill into the fabric of reality and reach the center of everything. The Magi believed that what awaited them on the other side was the Root, also known as the Akasha. With these records, one would have the answer to life. Nothing would be beyond your understanding.

With this noble goal in mind, the three families – Einzbern, Makiri, and Tohsaka worked hard to develop the Grand Holy Grail. The Tohsaka donated a spiritually rich land with ley lines on it to fuel the machine while the Einzbern and Makiri worked on an operating system and user interface, respectively.

The Grand Holy Grail provided each Heroic Spirit which was summoned into the war with several abilities. These abilities were frequently set up into specialized roles, and the spirits were each given unique abilities in addition to the skills and powers they possessed in life.

Sounds simple enough on paper. The Makiri and Einzbern had designed the systems perfectly, and made it so they would be bound to a human Master.

However, there were also lesser known features. The Grail also allowed access to information on social mores and memes. In the days when the system had originally been set up, this basically allowed Masters and Servants to freely converse if they were from different walks of life as the Grail made up for the differences in life and culture. Things became a bit…different with the advent of the Age of Technology, however.

As Lancer pondered deeply into finding an answer beyond "I don't know" for his target's last question, this feature on the Grand Holy Grail activated. In fact, it almost seemed to relish being able to be used beyond the initial download of information into Lancer's mind.

The Irish hero's mind was filled with information that would never have actually been pertinent in a Holy Grail War, but which had been requested for none the less.

From there, the Grail helpfully continue to spew information related to the original request based on its relevance. Lancer felt increasingly baffled, watching the choices spread out before him. He definitely did not understand at all what it meant when he started to hear whispers offering to extend his spear size, but he hoped if he made a choice, all the voices would vanish.

'Rei-chan, huh?' The Irish hero brought up the first result.

Unfortunately, the Einzbern weren't constantly around to keep tabs on the software involved. Or even run a freaking anti-virus check...

* * *

Shirou's breath harshly ripped through his ears, pumping his arms for all they were worth, and ran for his life. His long, frantic strides ate the distance between point A and point B faster than a rotund young Swedish child went through delicious cakes. However, it turned out he had yet to discover the essence of speed when he heard a long, tortured scream rip through the night from behind him.

Shirou ran even quicker, the lockers and walls just blazing past him.

Shirou's eyes teared up as he gazed upon the shattered glass doors, and the garbage can in front of them. The glorious promise of freedom just lay beyond the same doors he had used to rush in from his initial 'try not to get stabbed the fuck out' flight.

At least, until the garbage bin ceased to be the only thing between him and his hasty retreat. A furious, and twitchy, Irishman suddenly leapt over Shirou's head, and landed in between him and his exit!

"You fucking **ass**," Lancer hissed, rearing back his cursed spear, and swung for the fences.

Shirou was discouraged from continuing further discourse as said spear smashed him in the torso and sent him pinballing against shoe lockers. He bounced exactly three times on the squeaky clean linoleum floor of the school before rolling to a stop in front of the teacher's lounge.

'This situation needs to be carefully handled,' Shirou solemnly thought within the sanctuary of his mind. 'What do I say to the Rei cultist?'

"I…did it…" Shirou coughed. "For the lawls."

'Probably not that.' Brain and mouth had an apparent falling out, and it'd be up to his ass to cash that check.

Lancer let out a roar of fury, launching himself at the slowly rising teenager. Both men went crashing through the ridiculously thin door barring the way into the lounge behind them, sending chunks of wood and plaster flying about from the force that Lancer brought to bear to wreck Shirou's shit.

Shirou only had a few moments to spare, and he managed to squeeze out of the grasp of the raging Lancer. He quickly dash-crawled beneath the maze of desks and tables that scattered about the den of the underpaid and overworked teachers.

A particularly loud crash behind Shirou caused him to speed up. He took a few turns and raced away deeper in the maze.

"What kind of sick fucks live in the world these days?" Lancer's voice raged behind him. "Then it led to those images of those dogs. Those…those poor dogs." His voice actually trembled.

Shirou kept crawling around the desks in search of the teacher's stash. He tried to pitch his voice out and away from him. "Those are terrible people! We should get PETA on their case. Like, if you let me go, I can go get on their case right the fuck now." He encouraged this line of thinking. It was a line of thinking that he hoped would leave him alive for a while longer.

"Yeah…fuck them." The teenager's words briefly made Lancer feel nostalgic. In life, Lancer had learned first hand what a dog had to put up. Lots of random dicks thought they were superior to man's best friend. Hell, he had been one of those dicks too.

Hindsight was always a bitch.

It was even worse when he had to play the part of a bitch until he could rear a replacement dog for his master. Thus, it could be said that Lancer was perhaps a little bit fond of dogs. Make that absolutely in love with dogs.

Lancer's tone of voice led to **plans**, and Shirou slowly replied. "Hey…hey. Uhm. I have some bad news for you." It was a shaky plan, but the redhead had never let such trifling things such as details and hesitation get to him. "Did you know that we cook and eat dogs in some parts of the world?"

Or common sense, apparently.

Lancer's vision went blood red. The next thing the hero knew he was staring at a wreck of a room. His spear was embedded on the wall next to a window he had inadvertently smashed in his rage. Oh, and the red haired punk was staring at him from the other side of that smashed window.

In one hand, Shirou held a bottle with a rag stuffed in it, and in the other, he held a pink Hello Kitty themed stun gun. "It's hero time!" Shirou shouted. Lancer leapt towards the kid.

"Fuck my life!" Shirou's triumph turned to horror, and he pressed the taser to the rag before the blue haired man could grab him. The rag burst into flame, and the redhead flung the bottle towards Lancer.

One of Lancer's innate skills as a Heroic Spirit - Protection Against Arrows, kicked in, and he impossibly changed his direction in mid-air to avoid the thrown bottle. The blue clad Irish hero viciously grinned, and snapped a kick for the red haired punk's face the second he touched foot on the ground.

To Shirou, it was a big blur of blue, and then a sudden sensation that he had just been rocked.

Shirou cursed, flying backwards, his arms wildly flailing about before he smashed onto the ground shoulder first. In a painful repetition of last time, he skipped off the ground one more time crotch first before coming to a halt along the ground.

However, the young teenager had gotten the last laugh, because if he remembered right, Taiga usually stored the booze in her desk...

The sound of a thump preceded a flash of crimson. Flame and smoke belched out of the teacher's lounge.

…around this time of the month.

Shirou saluted the burning room, and then turned. Unfortunately he found himself slamming face first into a wall of beef and muscle. The teenager staggered back a few steps and gazed up at an incensed pair of red eyes.

In a haze of the flames behind Shirou, the wickedly barbed red spear Lancer had been wielding all night formed in his hands. He went into a ready stance. "Would you like to kiss your sorry ass goodbye now?"

Shirou nervously gulped. He raised a finger, and took a thoughtful expression. "Is…is that physically possible?"

"No. Not really," Lancer promptly responded.

"Oh. You know, all things considered, you've been a pretty good sport," Shirou mused. "Why is that?"

Shirou's imminent killer hesitated for a few moments. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted.

"That's because he made a promise and fucked up the wording." A man's voice - deep, powerful, and a bit husky suddenly came from behind the blue haired man.

"Fuck. Not you again." Lancer spun to face a dark skinned man that walked out from the darkness cast from the increasingly bright flames spewing out of the teacher's lounge. He was a powerfully built man dressed in a gleaming red coat with mantle trailing behind him slightly. His frame was a direct contrast to Lancer's slim and agile body type.

He was also wearing bondage gear.

Or at least that's what the redhead thought the jet black breastplate the white haired man wearing was.

Against all rhyme and reason, Shirou decided to question this bullshit.

"…did I walk into some kind of kinky lover's spat instead?" Shirou quietly questioned. It was not quiet enough, though. Lancer twitched, and the white haired man smirked.

"Keep shining on, you crazy diamond." The white haired man ignored the blue haired man to address Shirou. "You can go home now."

"Huh?" Shirou blinked.

"Another of his crazy promises. He can only fight one enemy per day." Lancer tensed at the other oddly dressed man's words, hands gripping his spear tightly. "Geas, I tell you, nothing but trouble, huh?"

The red coated one continued blandly, "Oh, by the way, ask him as many questions as you want. He did promise after all."

Lancer roared. He was a blur when he flung himself at the white haired man. However, it turned out that the white haired man didn't take any chances – somehow materializing a pair of curved chinese swords, each cast to mirror the other in a black and white ying yang pattern. With an easy looking block, he locked the man's crimson spear with his paired swords.

"What's wrong, Lancer? You mad?" Lancer's expression twisted into a rictus of unending horror. The white haired man looked pleased by this.

The two of them began to meet in a clash of blades and spear, and the redhead decided to make a break for it. "By the way!" The white haired man's voice called out over the rapid ringing of steel on steel. "Do not fuck up tonight for me, you understand, Shirou? Do not fuck things up!"

Shirou, already well away from the duo's fight, gave the white haired man an awkward sort of thumbs up. He continued to awkwardly hop-dash away as the school burned behind him. Several minutes of blessed silence began to bring Shirou out of his somewhat stupid haze...

'Of stupid.' The redhead breathed out a few more times.

"…huh." By the time the teenager was back to his senses, the angry red lights of several law officers were slicing through the night's darkness. "Oh, goddammit."

The redhead quickly decided to go with Plan A with dealing with authority figures.

* * *

Shirou was looking appropriately disturbed and inconsolable. Several shrieking sirens of nearby fire trucks were all around the front of the school.

The redhead intentionally crawled out from underneath a nearby rose bush to meet the fire fighters. They usually had bigger things to worry about. Much better chances to not go to jail if he popped up next to them. Several men and women dashed past him, and he stared at an approaching fire marshal with haunted looking sherry eyes.

A few minutes passed in relative calm while Shirou recounted his version of events. Since the truth was much wilder than was even possible, he decided to go with it.

"So then the guy roars something about being a lover of dogs everywhere and then tackles me straight through a door before I could even twitch!" Several fire fighters tried to take the pink taser Shirou was waving about wildly during his explanation of the situation, but quickly backed off at the wild look in his eyes.

"Yes, of course. I understand." The fire marshal held up a reassuring left hand, and fingered an extendable baton strapped to his side with his right hand. "So, why did you say the crazy, penis exposing dog lover attacked you all of a sudden?"

"Well, that's the thing. I'm not completely sure. He told me that he'd answer any question I wanted." Shirou lightly tapped the stun gun's prods up against the skin on his left wrist. A look of great concentration briefly crossed his features.

"Did…did you ask him if he could expose himself to you?" The fire marshal wondered weakly. The school was now merrily burning away in the background despite the brave efforts of Fuyuki City's finest. The teenager glanced at him in pure horror.

"What? No!" Shirou boggled.

"Oh, thank goodness," The fire marshal began to sigh.

"I asked him if he belonged to a cult that worships Rei Ayanami by exposing their penises at people." Shirou's explanation was to the point. The older man's sigh turned into a death rattle at the shit he had to put up with.

"Just…just go, please." The fire marshal pressed the back of his wrist against his left eye. "I've lost the will to continue. We'll speak to you about tonight another day, alright?" The older man didn't notice the faint smirk on Shirou's face. The teen quickly moved away from the burning building.

* * *

Shirou occasionally winced and tried to discretely rub his thighs together to get the burning, unending agony to stop radiating out of his crotch from his earlier fall. Occasionally, the redhead would have to lean onto stone walls along the incline back down to his neighborhood, and take a few moments to compose himself.

A few feminine giggles could be heard ascending the hill to school and Shirou made himself look as composed and rugged as possible.

"Oh. It's just you three." Shirou's debonair charm vanished like the morning mist when he gazed upon the three teenagers directly in front of him.

"What do you mean, by **just**?" Kaede Makidera stepped to the front of the pack, letting Kane Himuro and Yukika Saegusa stand at attention behind her. With her soft, dark hair cropped close and short, and her deep tan, Kaede was practically hitting the tomboy fetish button for young Shirou with a sledgehammer. "We have goddamned names you know!"

Shirou idly glanced past the ranting girl to gaze at the grayish brown haired Kane. She caught his roving gaze and faintly smirked back at him. She adjusted her glasses slyly, pushing her chest a bit forwards with a faint smirk. The redhead tagged her under the appropriate hot nerd clichés.

His eyes finally settled down on the last girl, who had a slim and petite body with shoulder length brown hair. A dismissive look crossed Shirou's face as an equally devastated look crossed the girl's face. Yep, someone fun to tease.

Shirou gazed back at Kaede in time for the track girl to finish her rant, "…and that's why you're a louse!" The teenager considered this with a grave air all about him. It was grave enough to momentarily startle Kaede out of her chiding mode, and they leaned slightly forwards.

"I burnt down the school. Your objections are meaningless." Shirou suddenly placed his hands on Kaede's shoulders and leaned in close and place a kiss on her lips. He was in and out of her swinging range before the sprinter could react.

Nothing quite got a young man to feel alive quite like a romp down a hill with a teenage girl screaming their name out loud passionately. Shirou's wounded pride recovered, the long night of being pretty pathetic set aside while he happily raced for his life away from more mundane things.

Like his fellow club members.

"Shirou, you asshole! Get back here!" Kaede hollered bloody murder, following him into his neighborhood. Unfortunately for the sprinter, she could never quite catch up to the redhead, who would duck into a side street or squeeze into alleys, preventing her from gaining enough speed in a straight out dash to snag him up.

The redhead breathed hard, a big smile crossing his lips when he ducked into the shadow cast by a particular side path. Moments later, the dark skinned girl ran past him, still hollering for his skull. Possibly for some sort of fiendish decoration.

Shirou sighed happily. "That was what I needed." Tension decreased, and unhappiness was equally redistributed across the world. Balance achieved, the teenager headed home for the day.

* * *

Shirou tiredly sighed, sliding the front door closed. What a fucking night.

The redhead slouched over, dragging his feet over, and deposited his shoes. He retrieved his tiger themed house slippers. He ambled his walk so he was sliding across the ground more than walking, feeling too lazy to lift his feet.

Opening the door to the living room, the redhead walked past his father.

"Good evening, asshole," Shirou merrily greeted the slumped over figure of his father, who - wonder of wonders, was leaning chin first on the kotatsu staring glassily at the television. Several bottles of cheap booze littered the surface of the table around him.

"Welcome home, you pansy wrist. Did you finish sucking up to Shinji Matou for tonight?" Shirou's father drawled.

"Hey!" Shirou's eyebrows rose to his hairline in anger. "I'm just trying to help out a friend!"

"He's never going to let you near his sister, you dumbass." His father repeated the same thing he told the redhead a thousand times. Mostly because he knew that it was a private fear that Shirou guarded closely to his chest.

"Oh, fuck you too, old man." Shirou winced, and his father laughed at the grimace on his face. How the hell did he ever think this broken, bitter fuck was a hero of justice?

"Hey, the sooner you learn you can't get what you want, the better you're off." The glee vanished from his father's face so quick that the redhead knew he had probably been faking the fight from the word go. "I'm just trying to watch out for you…you know?"

"…I guess so," Shirou uneasily responded.

"I put the leftovers Ilya-chan made in the oven if you want them," His father offered.

Shirou shook his head. "I feel like hell."

"You look like hell too." The older man grinned. "Well, then just go to bed, then? You got school tomorrow, right?"

"School's closed tomorrow." And for every day for a while thanks to that award-winning flaming bottle throw.

"Ah. Alright. Well, good night then, Shirou." The man reached for another bottle.

"Night dad." Shirou trudged off, and then upstairs. Times like these made him feel sad as hell for the old timer. It probably wasn't his fault that his wife was gone. Then he remembered the rest of the times he had spent with his father, and he once again felt the almost uncontrollable urge to kick him upside the head.

"What a night…" Shirou breathed, and he opened the door. Then he choked. Then he started going blue.

"What's wrong, oniichan? Never seen a girl before?" Ilyasviel von Einzbern nee Emiya gazed up at Shirou from where she was crouching before him in a sheer white negligee. With the window open behind her, the light of the full moon into his otherwise dark room let the teenager almost glow in the dark as her silver hair and alabaster skin soaked it all in.

Shirou's wide eyes took in every curve, and idly noted in the back of his mind that he'd have to check in the morning on the heater in the house when two very prominent indicators on his helpful nighttime visitor did a fine job of letting Shirou know that it was rather nippy…

Very nippy…

Pink and nippy…

"What?" Shirou's brain rebooted, causing Ilyasviel to giggle. She crawled up towards him. His mind began to scream and babble in all the dead languages known to man and dog alike while the school's Madonna paused a few inches away.

"I asked you whether or not it's true that it's your birthday tomorrow." Ilyasviel smiled up at her with full, pouty lips.

"I…yah…I…yah." Oh, so that's what the red ribbon around her waist was.

Ilyasviel grinned at Shirou. "Well, I hope you don't mind if I give you your present a little…bit…early?" She breathed each syllable out.

The redhead raised a finger to ask if this was all that necessary.

"_Do not fuck up tonight for me, you understand, Shirou? Do not fuck things up!" The white haired man yelled as he led Lancer away._

In that moment, Shirou Urobuchi believed in God. As his kohai promptly dragged him down on top of her and the thin futon in Shirou's bedroom, the red haired teen was reduced to babbling his thanks over and over all night long.


	2. Chapter 2

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon.

Chapter 2: Grease

Shirou Urobuchi clawed his way out of Morpheus's sweet embrace, turned to look at the bearded man with the bag of suspicious substances, and ran screaming back to the waking world. The red head slapped his lips together as he began his usual wake up routine.

Shirou sat up. Check.

He blinked a few times. Again, Shirou sadly discovered he hadn't woken in a magical land of naked women holding swords. Check.

He stretched in place as he readied himself for a brand new day of exciting drudgery for Shinji Matou's sake. Check.

He ran a mini checklist of the objects and/or people he would copulate on and/or on top of with Sakura Matou once he tricked Shinji Matou into letting her go out with him. Check.

He casually reached over and made sure his senpai's nude figure was covered. It appeared Ilyasviel von Einzbern nee Emiya had somehow thrown them off last night. Check.

He screamed his fucking head off.

"Holy shit!"

Check.

"We still have all day." Ilyasviel sleepily giggled.

Due to current circumstances, Shirou decided to promptly skip to step eight as he hopped to his feet and began to silently but passionately hop up and down like a complete retard. 'Fuck you, Shinji! Fuck you and the hoochie train you ride in on!'

He celebrated this victories. The imagined lamentations of Shinji Matou ringing in his ears. Check.

"Shirou, are you done banging our neighbor's daughter?"

Get his brief moment of absolute happiness totally ruined by his father, Ren Urobuchi? Check.

Shirou briefly attempted to be one with the universe.

"Yeah…no. I can sense the palpable unclenching of your teenage anxieties and fears on the other side of this door. Just getting laid isn't going to make you awesome all of a sudden."

"The hell do you know, old man?" The youngest Urobuchi blurted.

"I will share an absolute truth - Even as the world revolves around the sun, and the universe is fated for heat death, a teenager will always be lame." Ren solemnly replied. "Or maybe just you in particular." He added at the end of that.

Shirou's fist trembled in the direction of the door.

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to work." Urobuchi paused. "And something else…I love you, son."

"What's the hell is that about?" Shirou's voice rose in sheer amazement.

"Well, I figure it's the right thing to tell your son." A beat. "When he's going to be meeting the father of the daughter he so vigorously deflowered."

Shirou went pale.

"He'll be waiting for you in the living room." The sounds of Ren shuffling away carried into the silently quiet room.

"Mmm…but I can't call you daddy. I already have a daddy." Ilyasviel mumbled and rolled over.

* * *

Kiritsugu Emiya was a man of few words. If someone were to make a poll which ranked his top three favorite words, they would read in the following order: Ilya, Justice, Murder.

It really was no surprise at all for Shirou Urobuchi to find himself being stared down across from the living room by the spiky haired man after he had his wild night of debauchery with his daughter. What was highly surprising about the whole affair was what the hawk eyed man was wearing at the moment.

A hideously bright green and yellow sweater with tiger stripe patterns shone like a super nova in the ratty surroundings.

"Uhm." Shirou began as he kept the majority of his bodily organs safely shielded behind the wall as he stuck his neck out to speak to Kiritsugu. "G-good morning, Emiya-san."

"It's three in the afternoon, Shirou-kun." Ilyasviel's father replied with a narrowing of his eyes. "Now, may I ask why my daughter went missing yesterday and suddenly reappeared in your bedroom?"

How did he know?

"Do…do you have spy cameras in my room?" A look of horror crossed his face. "I always knew you were a spook, but this is crazy!"

Kiritsugu sighed and placed a hand on his forehead as he tiredly rubbed his face. "I'm not a government agent. I just want to talk to you." And possibly string him by the balls depending on how the conversation went.

"A-alright." Shirou relaxed as he fully stepped out and into the living room. A high speed baseball came soaring for his skull at 'I will fuck you up' speeds. The red head's hand slapped outwards, redirecting the blow and sending it smashing through his father's coffee mug, in the blink of an eye.

"Oh. That's lame, Emiya-san. Don't you know how many stores online I had to search for before I found that coffee mug?"

The "I hope you have many more butt babies, Dad." mug had been a classic conversation piece between him and his visitors for the years that followed.

"Sorry." Kiritsugu insincerely replied. Damn that woman for taking a liking to Shirou's 'moxie'. "I was just testing your reflexes. Got to keep them sharp, after all."

Shirou sincerely doubted that. He moved to sit across from Emiya at his dad's shabby kotatsu. "So, where are we now?" He had wanted to stay cool with Kiritsugu since the man was pretty much his own father figure.

God, maybe Ilyasviel's weird fetishes had some basis in reality.

Ha ha. No.

"Well, back in Arimago Island a man was only allowed to court someone's daughter if he could take on the father in a fight." Kiritsugu had a rather shark-like grin on his normally impassive face. "Think you can do that?"

Shirou wondered if he could just settle with a one night stand and let bygones be bygones. Perhaps they could even turn this into a father and son moment? Something that could come out of those squeaky clean and sappy television shows of yesteryear.

Shirou in his own room in the Emiya Home, Kiritsugu and Taiga in their own, and Ilyasviel in her own.

Kiritsugu could call out, "Good morning, wife."

Then Taiga would say, "Good night, husband." Before turning off the lights in the room and make sure she lay down on a futon no less than two feet apart from Kiritsugu's own.

Then Kiritsugu would say, "Good night, Shirou-kun."

Of course Shirou would then contentedly answer, "Good night, dad! You are the best father ever. You fucking rock!" Then squeeze in under his futon with the naked form of Sakura Matou.

Kiritsugu would chuckle at his son and mentally go 'oh well' for owning another person for such a vile, disgusting thing. This wouldn't be enough for him to complete his nightly greetings as he would finish by saying, "Good night, Ilya-chan."

Unquestionably, Ilyasviel would then respond with, "Oniiiichan, why'd you leave the room? I'm ready for round two."

…no.

That wasn't right.

* * *

Shirou Urobuchi looked like he was being walked to the death chamber as he had his two wrists bound together by a length of rope Kiritsugu had produced seemingly from the infinite void within the monstrous looking sweater. He kept his head raised high, though.

Kiritsugu had seen enough of his bitch tears when his naked albino daughter had walked in on the two of them.

"Daddy, no!" Ilyasviel clung onto the red head's judge, jury, and executioner with all the energy and fire of a scorned teenage girl. "If you kill him I'll never forgive you!"

"Ha ha ha. Would you really think I would do such a thing to young Shirou-kun here? I simply wish to test his skills in the dojo." Kiritsugu's reassuring words were anything but as he kept a cold mask over his face. It also didn't help he was pronouncing the Ha sounds instead of genuinely laughing.

Shirou whimpered as he was shoved ahead a few more steps by the insistent parent.

"See, Shirou? This is why I never had any boyfriends!" Ilyasviel raged. The young woman had put her school uniform hurriedly back on and was literally hanging off her father's shoulders to drag his steps down. Alas, she kept getting dragged along as her father ignored attempts at stopping him. "God, I can just picture what would have happened if I had really decided to hook up with Shinji-kun last night."

Wait. What?

"What?" Both Shirou and Kiritsugu both turned to the silver haired albino with looks of horror on their face.

"Whyyyy?" The red head added as he looked like he was about to cry and throw up.

Kiritsugu was impressed in the intensity of Shirou's reaction. Maybe he should take another look into his punishment. Maybe he was too harsh?

"That lech doesn't deserve your body!"

Right. Back to the dojo.

Ilyasviel blushed and shyly extended a foot. The tip of it dragged along the ground as she tightened her hold around Kiritsugu's shoulders. "Ah. So you finally noticed me as a woman, eh?" She looked supremely pleased.

Her father sighed as he kept shoving Shirou around the corner and down the street to their home. "You're too young for any of this kind of talk."

"Aunt Maiya wasn't much older when you took her in as a lover." Kiritsugu finally stumbled as his expression briefly shattered from cool old guy to panicked headless chicken.

"Who told you?" At those words, a divine bolt from on high came down and smashed the side of Kiritsugu's head, knocking the man down to the ground.

"Enter Taiga Emiya, heroine of justice, stage right." The proudly posing warrior lightly stepped on the center of Kiritsugu's shoulder blades as she held her tiger strapped shinai against her shoulder.

"Mom!" Both Shirou and Ilyasviel happily charged towards the short haired, hakama and gi wearing brunette.

Shirou felt the tip of the shinai gut him as it jabbed into his torso. He dangled helplessly off the end like another prize. He wheezed as he tried to gulp some air in the aftermath of his common mistake around the deadly tiger.

"Call me, 'Big Sister'!" The proudly beaming woman gently chided Shirou. "I'm just Ilya-chan's momma!" That, and she felt older when the neighborhood kids called her mother.

The red head weakly nodded and pulled himself off the deadly tiger themed shinai.

Ilyasviel cheered and clapped at the display. The teenager went and quickly untied her boyfriend while she let her mother deal with things. After all, Taiga Emiya was the best goddamned mother ever.

"So can you tell me why I heard shouts about executing Shirou-kun, Kiri-kun?" Taiga purred as she ground her heel into the back of the formerly stoic man.

"Putting that aside for now, I just have to say you look very beautiful today, Taiga-chan." The man nervously began to sweat. "And would you like some money? I have lots of money I can freely spend! Just don't kill me oh god at least spare enough remains for Ilya to retrieve the…!"

Taiga ignored her husband's desperate pleading as she turned towards Ilyasviel, "So, you've gotten yourself a man, eh?"

"Mmhm." Ilyasviel nodded in return as she hung off a limpet from Shirou's arm.

Taiga eyed Shirou for a moment. Shirou thought he saw a vision of himself a beaten and broken down heap in front of the ferocious woman. "Well, I approve!" The vision faded as quickly as it had appeared.

"B-but she's too young!" Kiritsugu protested.

Taiga idly leaned a bit more on the man's back as she pondered. "She's sixteen now. Plus, I'd rather she goes on the childhood friend route than the playboy route, really." She smiled at Ilyasviel. "So, what was the decision maker?"

"Shinji-kun never made it to our date last night." Ilyasviel shrugged. "He's been flaking out too much with his other girlfriends lately."

"S-so you were *still* going out with him despite that?" Shirou boggled at the silver haired girl. She shrugged.

"We weren't official or anything." A sly smile crossed her lips. "Of course to the victor goes the spoils. And by that I mean my firs-"

Taiga yelped as she was suddenly sent stumbling back as Kiritsugu tapped deep into a reservoir of inner strength. Suddenly leaping to his feet, the man pointed to Shirou. "We are going to have a practice match today, Shirou-kun!" With that declaration made, the man bravely fled.

"Ooh. See? This is why I had to go with Shinji-kun at first." Ilyasviel pouted. "Guy was the only one that I knew had to have survived a bunch of fathers's wrath for sure."

Shirou drooped. "So I was the fall back guy?"

"I like to think of it more that he wouldn't die even if he was killed~" Ilyasviel replied with a lighthearted tone.

"Like a cockroach, then?" Taiga quirked her head as she gazed at her retreating husband then at Ilyasviel.

"Like a cockroach." The albino confirmed.

"So that's the only reason you'd go out with him?" Shirou brightened up.

"Well, you know my dad." A loud crack split the air from the direction of the Emiya dojo. "I just didn't want the infamy of having my first boyfriend get some bones broken."

"School's closed for now." Taiga replied. "Shirou-kun would have some time to heal a little if his bones get broken." She sighed. "I wish I hadn't left my things behind. I always get lazy and leave my things over there."

"Don't worry, mom. You can always replace your drinks later." Ilyasviel patted Taiga on the shoulder.

"While this is all very interesting, I just need to step in here." Shirou interrupted the mother/daughter moment. "The man is going to beat me within an inch of my *life* here."

Ilyasviel nodded. "Just think of it as equivalent exchange!"

"But I'm pretty allergic towards getting beaten up, ask mo-Taiga-neechan." Shirou's hurried correct brought a smile to Taiga's face.

"Well, just fight smarter, not harder." Taiga shrugged. "Just treat this like every match we've had before, Shirou-kun."

"Hm…fight smarter, huh." Shirou mused. Remembering the previous night, a rather devious grin crossed his features.

* * *

Kiritsugu Emiya had ditched his tiger themed sweater in favor of a dark gi and hakama. He had a shinai draping across his crossed legs as he stared at up at the entrance to the dojo with serenity.

The entrance banged open as a brave red haired teenager paced into the room with all the charisma of a hero of old.

"Emiya-san! I have come for your daughter! Again!" Kiritsugu's eyebrow twitched at Shirou's declaration.

"At least you didn't back away from my challenge." The spiky haired older man replied.

"I am always one hundred percent serious when it comes to screwing Shinji over any and every opportunity in life!" Shirou roared. Dressed in a white gi under loose blue hakama, the teenager's eyes burned passionately. "Also, Ilyasviel is totally worth it."

"…your priorities are sort of mixed up there." The self proclaimed master of the dojo rose. "Then, to first strike? I'll limit myself too. It'll only count for me if it's to your torso." On mediation, Kiritsugu didn't really want to kill the child he had practically raised alongside Ilyasviel.

Just beat him up a little.

Maybe just enough to bruise.

He wondered if there were creams Shirou could purchase to hide some small scars.

"That's fine." Shirou warily paced around Kiritsugu, only presenting his front. The older man rose, grabbing his shinai and reaching to the wall on his side to grab another one.

"Catch." Kiritsugu lightly tossed the weapon up to Shirou.

At the moment the red head was reaching up to catch it, Kiritsugu was already in motion. His shinai screamed through the air as it rushed to smash into Shirou's sword arm.

His sword was met by another one as Shirou's sherry eyes locked onto Kiritsugu's dark eyes.

"You really didn't think it'd be that simple, did you?" Shirou grit his teeth. The shinai that Kiritsugu had tossed had been ignored as Shirou had ripped another shinai with a tiger strap off his back with his off hand. Pieces of duct tape clung onto it as both men snarled and pressed their weapons up against each other.

"Cheeky little brat!" Kiritsugu barked.

"I learned from the best!" Shirou's eyes shone with a fierce light.

Both men wrenched their blades and moved to opposite sides of the dojo.

Shirou challenged the older man head on as the two's shinai met in a flurry of motion. The older man swayed to and fro, a dark shadow that seemingly phased before the onslaught of slashes. His shinai was a blur as he redirected any attack towards his torso.

In return, the red head was getting his arms, shoulders, and head repeatedly slammed by the older man's strikes. Shirou however didn't even flinch as he took blows that were starting to crack the shinai as he desperately avoided and parried blows to his torso.

He was fighting for the greatest thing in his life, after all.

The chance to gloat over Shinji.

'Why. Won't. You. Stay. Down?' Despite himself, Kiritsugu was growing impressed with the teenager's sheer gumption as the shinai he was wielding was growing frayed with the force of the blows. 'Why'd I have to vent before? Oh right, I could've killed him.'

Still, his earlier abuse of his shinai was coming back to haunt him as the weapon was shattering from the blows to Shirou's surprisingly sturdy body.

Fortunately he had a spare.

Kiritsugu leapt away from a vicious swipe that almost but not quite connected with his chest. He almost had a friendly smile on his face as he soared in mid-air towards the spot where the shinai he had tossed Shirou earlier was resting.

"Well, your determination at least isn't anything to mo-eh?" The second his feet landed, he felt himself slip and go ass over teakettle. His head rang as he stared up at the roof of his dojo.

"Taiga-neechan wanted me to let you know to be careful. She waxed the floors this morning." Shirou simply announced as he lightly tapped Kiritsugu's chest with his shinai. "So…yeah, be careful."

Kiritsugu could hear the repressed chortle in the teenager's voice.

Kiritsugu closed his eyes with a smile. Oh well, there were worse people to lose to.

* * *

Ilyasviel von Einzbern nee Emiya and Shirou Urobuchi were both sitting on the porch that overlooked Ilyasviel's backyard later that afternoon. The silver haired teenager was wearing a rather fetching white dress with purple accents to it as she leaned over a shirtless Shirou.

"Dad worked you over real good, didn't he?" Ilyasviel had an impish smile as she finished rubbing cream onto the red head's various bruises.

"Laugh it up. You get all the fun and I get all the hard work." Shirou snorted. Ilyasviel grinned at him in return.

"Oh c'mon. You know you totally have a metaphysical hard on for going white knight for some pretty girl." Ilyasviel nudged him in the side, causing Shirou to wince. "You scratch my fetishes and I scratch yours." She began to wrap his bruises up in bandages and gauze.

"Hey, Ilyasviel, do you think…" Shirou paused as her crimson eyes focused on her. "Did you really want to go out with Shinji first?"

Ilyasviel stayed quiet as she pondered that. "I wouldn't of gone that far. I was just going to go on a few dates with him."

"Oh."

Ilyasviel shyly glanced at Shirou from the side. "I could only do that with…" She twiddled her fingers together. "Uhm! Yeah."

Shirou matched Ilyasviel's blush. "Yeah…" He retorted. "Uhm! So, do you want to cook with me or anything?" The teenager was stuttering pretty badly. "A-after all, Taiga-neechan is tending to Emiya-san's wounds…"

"What wounds?" The silver haired teenager quirked her head.

"To his pride because he just got *burned* earlier." Shirou proudly stuck out his chest.

"I'd like that." Ilyasviel giggled. She couldn't quite gaze at Shirou directly, though.

"Well, want to go inside now, Ilyasviel?" Shirou blinked at the fierce look in his silver haired friend's face.

"Call me Ilya-chan!" Ilyasviel crossed her arms in front of her.

"What?"

"I…I'm just saying, is all. If we're going out now, I think you need to call me by a cuter name." Ilyasviel blushed as she finished wrapping up Shirou's chest.

"Uhm. Alright, Ilya-chan." Shirou scratched his nose as he fidgeted slightly.

That's when the blood began to pour out of a wound on the back of his left hand. Both teenagers stared at the sight for a moment, then at each other.

"…I'm dying!" Shirou suddenly began to shriek as he flailed his arm about. "You're fucking dad killed me!"

"S-Shirou! Don't panic! Don't panic!" Ilya matched Shirou's screams as she tried to get to his hand to treat it.

The screams of both teenagers eventually drew in Kiritsugu, who looked halfway between resignation and apocalyptic rage. "What the hell are you two doing now…?" He slid to a stop as Ilya and Shirou both froze. Where the back of Shirou's hand was still lightly bleeding, there were now three red symbols faintly glowing in the sunlight.

"Welcome to the Grail War." Kiritsugu gazed at Shirou expressionlessly.

* * *

"Archer is true credit to team" Score Card:

- Life saved

- NTR end avoided.

See you next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 3: Scorching Ray

Rin Tohsaka failed at life!

"My little Master can't be this lame!" Even her servant agreed with her assessment.

"Go away. I don't want to head out tonight." Rin mumbled. Her head poked out beneath the shell of blankets that helped her keep away from life.

Her Servant decided that this bullshit could not stand.

"Take it easy!" Archer gazed down at his Master. The teenager was currently wearing a sulky looking pout. "You've summoned the most powerful of all the Servants!"

"I wanted Saber!" Rin flushed with anger. "To make matters even worse, my Servant got my school burned down!" She boiled over with aggression as she recalled the earlier telephone call she had gotten from the Kirei Church.

"Saber is a terrible, terrible class." Archer breezily responded. "I mean…*slashing* things with swords? How last millennium." He thumbed himself. "Now Archers, Archers are quite frankly the best thing since mana potions."

"What the hell are you talking about!" Rin's train of thought crashed to a halt.

"Well…you know. Mana potions." Archer blinked at her. "You know, to make some quick cash?" He continued to look at her as both of them stared. "You mean to tell me that you can afford all this without having to dip into creating mana potions?"

Suddenly it clicked into terrible clarity for Rin as her pride and joy - her brain, turned on its master. "No. No! Good god no! Ew!" She grimaced. "Male mages sell their…emissions to make mana potions, not women!"

"Oh." A beat. "Can I interest my little Master in a magical top off, then?" Archer grinned.

"Freak! Lunatic! Pervert!" Rin howled like a scorned cat as she leapt out of bed in just her panties and shirt. Ripping someone a new one was the agenda of the day, and Rin sought to be absolutely punctual with it as she chased Archer out of her room. The Heroic Spirit suddenly went intangible as he turned about face and leapt past her and back to her bedroom.

The lock slamming shut on her door oddly echoed in Rin's ears.

The door slammed promptly slammed in Rin's face, causing her to metaphorical hackles to rise and force her into batting at it with her fists of feline fury for the next several minutes as she hollered wordlessly at Archer. Unfortunately the house was built up to withstand abuse when the martial artists that lived in the home for generations would occasionally (read: often) flip the unholy hell out.

Rin eventually concluded beating on her door once she realized how silly she must look. She sighed and idly picked at the sleeveless white tank top she was wearing. "Archer, let me in." The magus ordered instead.

"…are we you done with your hissy fit, Master?" Archer's response was guarded.

"Yes." Rin ground out. She couldn't afford any new doors, anyway.

"…will you admit that Archers are the best Servant class ever?"

"…no." Rin sulked, gripping her hands together. She would not waste a Command Spell on this. She would not waste a Command Spell on this.

"You may enter." The lock on the door unlocked and it swung open easily for Rin. The girl viciously grinned and gathered a Gandr on the tip of her index finger as she stepped through - with thoughts of terrible vengeance darkly looming in her mind.

The prana feeding her spell flickered. Gand harmlessly dispelled back into the mana of the air around Rin as she stared at the triumphantly posing Archer. The room around him was positively sparkling.

"Hello Master." Archer greeted the magus like nothing had gone wrong at all. "How are you? Fantastic." He answered before she could even respond. "Does Saber look as handsome as me? No." He interrupted her as she raised a finger to answer.

He walked over to her bed, which now looked wrinkle free and freshly laundered. "Look to the right."

Rin instinctively did as instructed as her higher reasoning centers were still off balance. Her reading desk, which had been positively overflowing with books last night was now completely spotless. A quick check of the bookcase showed that the books had been moved over. Yes, they had been moved over and alphabetically sorted.

"Now back to me." Archer was now holding an oyster. He opened it to reveal the ruby pendant Rin had lost last night. It still glowed with the great amount of prana stored within it. Thanks to her losing it last night, she had wound up with the Heroic Spirit in front of her. "I've got an oyster with that thing you always loved."

Rin opened her mouth to speak, but Archer thrust the pendant into her hands. In the split second she glanced down at it, a golden light blazed in her room. She glanced back up and suddenly the white haired man was clenching onto a bejeweled dagger that glowed with all the lights of a rainbow.

"Look again, the oyster is now a Jeweled Sword!" The red coated man smugly crossed his arms in front of him. "Anything is possible when your man smells like steel and smoke, and not like a lady."

"…what." Rin gave Archer a dead man's stare. The man merely grinned as their surroundings suddenly shifted in a wave of heat. A vast wasteland filled with countless swords, both priceless and mundane, stabbed deep into the cracked brown earth. High above the sky, towering gears spun as they ground together.

"We're in a reality marble." Archer concluded.

* * *

Rin Tohsaka was feeling content.

Whereas her inner Magus had scoffed at Archer's display of bravado earlier, she had to admit that somewhere deep inside her had actually been moved by the effort the Heroic Spirit had gone through. In a vague, definitely not interested sort of fashion.

Rin had very bluntly told her Servant she would disavow any knowledge about her squealing in amazement at the reality marble. Ice cold Magi did not act like that.

Both master and intangible Servant were currently wandering around Miyamachou in broad daylight. The urban area of Fuyuki City had always been a strange and vaguely terrifying creature for the heiress of the Tohsaka family. Unfortunately they were going slow due to the hesitance shown by Rin as the duo made their rounds.

"What's wrong, Master?" Archer finally decided to broach the subject as the young Tohsaka was in the midst of staring through a store's glass display. On the other side various blinking doodads buzzed and blinked and made all manner of noises that just should not exist in the natural world.

"Oh. I was thinking about getting a cell phone. A friend of mine from the Archery Club keeps bugging me about buying one." Rin idly replied.

Archer blinked. He set aside a verbal taunt - which was hard because of the sheer cheek of the girl at the moment, and decided to focus on the most troubling aspect of the situation. "You mean upgrading your phone, right?"

Rin's twin tails were all aflutter as she shook her head. "Nope. I've never had a cell phone before in my life!" She looked so proud at the moment. So proud that it hurt Archer somewhere deep, deep inside.

"M-master, what kind of hermetic lifestyle were you leading before I arrived?" Archer stared at the girl in sheer horror. Rin's turquoise eyes flashed with annoyance.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I have always carried a bee…per?" Rin finally realized the perilous position she had placed herself in, but it was unfortunately too late. Several electronic store owners had stepped outside at the horrid words that had spewed like toxic filth from the magus' mouth.

Rin took a step backwards as she saw the group of men and women collectively flare their noses as if they had just scented blood in the air.

"Ick!" Tohsaka spun around to find her face to face with a boy about four years her junior. The apology on her lips swiftly died a miserable death at the child's next words. "The *beeper* user just touched me." The boy shuddered and quickly moved away from Rin.

The magus drooped in place.

"Master, they have your scent! Run!" Archer cried as the pack of salespeople, hungry to meet their sales quotas, rushed Rin as a whole collective.

Rin shrieked and spun around to flee, but it was too late.

Archer winced as he watched the spot of red that was Rin's sweater vanish beneath a sea of desperate, desperate salespeople. "I'd better go get us some money. Those piranhas are going to bleed her dry." With one last shake of his head and a muttered 'beepers', the Servant turned and headed towards the antique store in town.

He did have many fine swords to sell after all.

* * *

Rin Tohsaka was feeling rather ambivalent…

On one hand, she had been just shy of being beaten and robbed by a group of entirely too eager sales people. On the other, she felt that she may have come up with a new version of Gandr during that awkward, vaguely disturbing time. Who knew she could manage a shotgun effect with enough motivation?

Still, she was now the proud owner of a brand new cell phone. She turned it about from one side to the other, feeling rather fascinated with the way the light shone off the surface. She had been told that it had mega pixels, even. Mega was good, right? Still, it would be best to go through the manual later and make sure to memorize it.

Then burn it. For no one was to know that there was a Japanese person who was so incapable with technology such as she.

"Master, I'm ba-" Archer moved next to her.

"NO ONE MUST KNOW!" Several people glanced up at Rin oddly for a few moments, but dismissed her since she was holding the cell phone. As far as they cared, she probably had some sort of attachment for the phone.

"…right. Well, follow me." The white haired man raised an eyebrow before gesturing towards a nearby alley. Rin's curiosity was piqued as she followed after her treasonous Servant.

Once the two were safely hidden away from most prying eyes, Rin snapped. "Where did you *go*, Archer? There were all these men and they kept asking me about data plans and rolling coverage! How the hell am I going to be getting a book from this thing?" She shook her cell phone at Archer.

"A book?" Archer wondered.

"Yes. They said I had five hundred texts." Rin's naïve reply made Archer's soul hurt all the way back by Alaya.

"That's…yes. Let's get back to that later." The white haired man pointed at a bag that was carefully tucked around in the shadows. "Pick that up. Open it slowly, and try not to scream."

Rin blinked, but went ahead and did as requested. The top of the bag parted open, and much like the Ark of the Covenant, Tohsaka felt her mouth go dry and the beginnings of her face melting clean off her skull. "M-money." So much cold, hard cash was gathered in this single spot that it nearly made Rin collapsed to her knees in awe.

And possibly a little arousal.

"H-how?" Rin gazed up at Archer with doe like eyes.

"Hmph. I made some swords and sold them. Can't abuse the trick too much, though. Or ever go to those particular shops again." Archer chuckled. "Still, I figure I may as well pull my own weight."

Rin clutched at the bag to her chest with one arm and gave him a thumbs up with the other, "You are the best servant *ever*."

Archer laughed. "Well then, I thank you for your kind words." He mock bowed. "Now then, I think you were going to tell me about your cell phone, now?" He smirked.

Rin's joy dimmed as a sickly smile crossed her lips. "Ah…well, I got something with a data plan." She walked out of the alley followed by Archer.

"Hm…you don't have a computer at home, do you?" He wondered.

"Nope. Never had the need for one. Why, is there anything good about it?" Rin idly wondered.

Archer chuckled. "Oh, there's quite a bit of fun to be had on the internet, my good chum." He was going to have fun with her.

* * *

Rin Tohsaka was amazed!

Her brand new cell phone continued to do all manner of things she had never imagined a telephone could ever do! At the moment, she was wildly turning aiming around and taking pictures of the downtown business district under her previous justification to explore.

"…huh?" Rin paused in her mad picture taking spree and gestured for Archer to draw near.

"What is it, Master?" Archer gazed at her phone. "For the last time, your phone can't print your pictures for you. That's a separate accessory involve…hello." Both Rin and Archer were staring at a picture of a gorgeous blue haired woman that was practically bursting out of a blue jacket, dark blouse, and a long brown skirt.

Rin and Archer's eyes moved from the phone over towards the woman. She was currently laughing, and lightly waving her hand at an older man wearing a smock and packaging some produce for her. The man looked about as dazed as the two crimson peepers.

"So…that's how it is, huh?" Archer mused, causing Rin to blink.

"What are you talking about?" Rin found herself instinctively prepared to defend herself at the smug tone.

"Well, I'm glad that your tastes are in the twenty-first century. Even if your knowledge still needs a little bit of time to catch up." Archer lightly waved her agitated look off. "Youth is surely a wonderful thing."

"Archer…" Rin sighed.

"Make sure to sow your wild oats while you still can, after all…?" Archer sagely nodded.

"Archer." Rin rubbed at the bridge of her nose. Her left eyebrow twitched.

"And when you're done you can return to my handsome side." The white haired spirit finished.

"Archer!" Rin snarled.

"You want to follow her because she's one of our victi…er…enemies in the war, correct?" Archer serenely asked.

"How did you…?" Rin began, but Archer silently answered it by raising his hands next to his ears and flapping them up and down as he pointedly glanced at the blue haired woman's head. "Oh…right. Of course." She wouldn't dare mention she had sensed the woman's magical presence the hard way.

The two stalkers lay low to the ground as their quarry began to move away from the small market. Despite the dynamic duo's stony expressions, their eyes could not help but trail down to the woman's swaying hips. Just back and forth.

And forth and back.

It was really quite hypnotic.

Archer's eyes crossed for a moment.

Both of the crimson stalkers suddenly ran out of luck as their gawking led them both to crashing into a red head with sherry eyes. Moments later, a silver haired teenager dashed in after him.

"There's are four buns!" Archer yelped. The red head was helping Rin up to her feet, but had enough time to respond.

"You don't deserve to wear that uniform!" Before dashing off.

"Hey, wait up Shirou-nii!" The silver haired teenager gave Archer the oddest look, but turned and raced down after the red head back towards the old section of town.

"Dammit! That punk made me lose her!" Rin cursed as she stomped her foot.

"Hey. No need to get angry with him. We both sort of forgot where we were going." Archer replied.

"Well, it's pointless now, I guess." Rin sighed in disappointment and drooped.

"Not really convincing me you aren't a lesbian, Master." Archer muttered.

"What did you say?" Rin glared over at the red mantled one.

"What?" Archer looked like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

"Let's just head on home." Rin sighed and snapped her fingers. Archer vaguely felt like a dog, but followed after the magus back to their home. "Well, today has been a pretty productive day." Rin happily chirped as the two began crossing the bridge for their side of town.

"Yes, and to think we get to enjoy our day off at the tax payer's expense. Is not life truly grand?" Archer drawled.

"Hmph. No need to take that kind of tone with me." Rin muttered. "Anyway, you promised me you tell me more about the internet."

"Did I?" Archer lazily responded.

"Yes! I bought one fifty gigabytes of data plan and I want to know how to use it better!" Rin snapped.

"Fine, what do you want to know, exactly?" The Heroic Spirit shrugged.

"What is a Wikipedia?" Rin's eyes shone.

"Oh, it's a web site…" Archer paused at her slightly dull look. "Uhm…you can access it for information." He tried to dumb things down a bit more.

"Huh. Interesting. Father never let me know about this before." Rin mused.

"Oh, it's probably because it's more of a recent thing." Archer scratched his cheek. "Anyway, there anything else you want to know?"

"That's pretty neat." Rin glanced at her phone for a moment. "No. It's fine. I'm going to play with this for a while more."

Archer nodded. He smirked as he noticed how intent the girl's turquoise eyes were on the screen of her cell phone.

Little did realize what he had inadvertently done. Archer would have been even prouder.

'So, I guess they had to actually draw a picture of the sorceress who invented the Dragon Slave?' Rin shook her head. Then again, she had seen some of the images of the Lords of Clock Tower, and they even offended her backwards sensibilities.

She blinked, and boggled as she saw the following words. Rin went pale and glanced around her surroundings suspiciously before clutching the phone closer to her chest. 'The fools! They released the aria onto these interwebs!' She mentally cackled as she began to plan to stea…borrow the secrets of the spell.

Why, between Archer, her ruby pendant, and this spell the War was in the bag!

* * *

Meme Busters

Shirou: My name is Shirou Urobuchi.

Archer: And my name is Shirou Urobuchi.

Both: And welcome to our first episode of Meme Busters!

Shirou: Broadcasting live from the Emiya Dojo, we bring you the explanations when the lazy author doesn't!

Archer: Isn't it more like the Tiger Dojo now, though?

Shirou: Hahah. Yeah. Emiya-san is totally whipped.

Archer: Well then, today we will explain what the hell the author meant by "There are four buns" and "You don't deserve to wear that uniform." Thank my glorious self for providing such a wonderful service.

Shirou: Ilya's service is still number one. Yours is a sloppy second at best.

Archer: Motherfu-

Shirou: The meme quoted in this chapter came from The Picard Song. Shirou-san mutated the "There are four lights" and since I happen to think on the same wavelength, I was able to understand him.

Archer: Tch. I'll get you next time.

Kiritsugu: So, whipped am I?

Archer: This is when I'm glad that I can go intangible. Face your death bravely like a true samurai!

Shirou: Fuck.


	4. Chapter 4

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 4: Horrid Wilting

"Dad!" Shirou came barreling through the front door of Copenhagen at five o'clock in the afternoon. A set of bandages and gauze had been hurriedly wrapped around the back of his hand so his Command Spells couldn't be seen.

The interior of the bar was warm, with wooden furniture and low hanging lights and fans adding a sort of noir feeling to the room. With four booths taking up the northern wall, three on the eastern side, and two on the south side - and entrance, of the bar, Shirou's eyes gazed over to the left side of the room.

The red head weaved between his way past several empty tables, but a few drunkards here and there gave the red head glassy eyed stares. Possibly fueled by too much of early celebratory drink. Shirou ignored the drunken oafs he passed and hollered. "We need to talk!"

"What is it now? I was hoping you wouldn't need the Birds-And-The-Bees discussion since you had practical experience now." Ren sighed as he set down the glass he had been polishing. Otoko Hotaruzuka smirked and carried a box filled with bottles to the back after giving Shirou a cheerful wave.

"N-no! I'm perfectly fine." The teenager blushed a bit at the look that accompanied that wave, and as a few drunks laughed.

"Oh. Shotgun wedding, then?" Ren wondered.

"…why do I even bother talking to you, anyway?" Shirou's blush turned into an angry flush. "No, you damn fool, I need your permission to stay over at Emiya-san's house for the next few days!"

"Well, the school is burnt down." Ren scratched at the stubble on his chin. "I suppose I would rather have you stay over at a teacher's place instead of wandering around like a damn hoodlum." The man observed with a cool tone.

"So, does that mean I can…?" Shirou dared to hope.

"Sure. Just don't get Ilya-chan teen pregnant. Then again, I'm sure that Emiya-san probably let you know all about that when I left, huh?" Ren smiled as he turned back to cleaning up the actual bar top itself with a rag.

"Ugh. I still can't believe you left me out to dry like that." The red head snorted and crossed his arms.

"What? Who the hell did you think I was?" Shirou's father looked at him like he was a damned fool.

"Yeah, that's true." Shirou sighed. "Well, I'll see you in a few days, old man." He idly waved the man off as he stepped out of the bar and headed outside. The cold air outside batted at his cheeks, slighting reddening them as she stuffed his hands into jeans.

Damn, it was nippy.

"Oniichan!" Ilya's voice called out for Shirou's attention. The silver haired teenager had seemingly thrown on a warm jacket over her outfit. "Why'd you run off like that?" She demanded with fierce crimson eyes as she ran up besides his side.

"Oh. That…" Shirou felt a chill go down his spine as he took in the aura around his childhood friend. "I went to ask my father if I could stay at home with you." He quickly explained, hoping to make her understand.

"You should have said so! I had to convince my father not to hurt you." The dangerous air around Ilya vanished as she breathed a sigh of relief. "We thought you were going to tell our secrets." She mumbled as she glanced at him a bit nervously.

"Well, I'm part of it now." Shirou reached over and grabbed her right hand, causing her to blush a bit. A pleased expression was across Ilya's face as the two leisurely began to walk as the teenager began to think about what Kiritsugu, Ilya, and Taiga had told him over the course of the last two hours.

'I'm a mother fucking wizard!' The red head crowed.

"That's right!" Ilya firmly nodded. "Don't run off half cocked like that again, okay?" She tightened her grip on Shirou's hand. "We're in this together…"

Shirou's eyes inadvertently were drawn to Ilya's soft tone as she trailed off. "Hey, Ilya…" He began as a blue haired woman passed by them.

Then he got knocked the fuck down. Colors blurred as he was slammed into at what felt like fifty miles per hour. Shirou grunted as he stared up at the skies above as a relatively warm and curvy bundle of girl sat on his stomach with her fists curled around his shirt.

A dazed blur of red, black, and teasing amounts of white danced in front of Shirou's dazed eyes as he stared up at Rin Tohsaka. "Rocking the Zettai Ryouiki today too, Tohsaka-san?" The red head muttered up as he desperately tried to avoid staring at the patch of skin exposed between Rin's stockings and her skirt. "Aren't you cold?" He wondered as the ringing of his head died down.

The brunette blinked and yelped as she leapt off him. Shirou blinked as his eyes briefly trailed over to Ilya, who was staring at a spot of empty space with a look close to shock, but had to set that thought aside as Tohsaka grabbed his shirt and hauled him physically up to stand besides her. He had forgotten how damn strong she could be sometimes.

"Urobuchi-kun! You got in my way again!" Rin growled. Damn, she could be a scary person when her nostrils flared like that.

"Er… what did I get in your way of doing?" Shirou wondered nervously, causing Rin to give him a firm shake.

"…never mind that! Why Ilya-chan hangs out with a person like you is beyond me." Rin huffed as her eyes briefly gazed over at the distracted looking Ilya. "But you can make it up to me." A slow, creepy grin began to stretch across her lips.

Shirou gulped.

"Yes…I might be able to beat *her* this time." Rin purred. "Alright. You owe me dinner, then." She imperiously demanded. "You can take Ilya-chan with us." She tried to pass it off as an allowance. "You two do come as a matched set, after all…"

"What?" Shirou demanded as a shiver went up his spine as Ilya's distracted glancing past Rin's shoulder snapped over to him with all the intensity of a winter storm.

"You heard me! I'll use you as a dummy and finally beat Ayako at that stupid boyfriend bet! She'll have to do anything I want for a day." Rin's eyes gleamed, causing Shirou's danger senses to automatically retarget her as the most immediate threat as Ilya's cold gaze died down. "Ufufu!" She finished with an unnerving cackle as she rubbed her hands together.

"There are four buns!" A deep voice boomed. One that Shirou had recognized from anywhere. Ice flowed in his veins as the thought of Wizardry and everything associated with it helped the red head reprioritize events for now.

"I'll get back to you on that." Shirou quickly promised Rin before he began to dash off. Oh, best answer the call too. "You don't deserve to wear that uniform!" He called back.

"Wait up, Shirou-nii!" Ilya raced after him, quickly catching up even with his head start. Several pedestrians yelped and hopped out of the two's bullheaded charge back across the bridge. The two panted, their breaths misting in front of them slightly as they raced side by side along the railway lined path on the edge of the bridge.

Several cars passed past them, gleaming in the late afternoon sun.

The red head was frankly surprised that his rather delicate looking friend could match stride with his longer legs. He knew what a terror she was with a sword from first hand experience in the dojo under Taiga's cackling laughter, but was surprised by her speed. Her legs were not a runner's legs.

Hell, he knew from feeling them wrapped around him last ni-

Shirou wobbled slightly in place as he tried to put the distracting thoughts out of his mind.

"So, is being a Wizard how you can keep up so easily with me?" Shirou turned to face Ilya. The Ilya's healthily flushed face was backlit by the vast harbor below them as the two teens made their way across the bridge.

"Mmm." Ilya vaguely responded. "It's Reinforcement. It lets us enhance an object by flooding its imperfections with prana. It's pretty hard to learn how to use on a human body, though." Indeed, she was looking a bit more flushed as she spoke and finally held a hand up once the two reached the other side of the bridge.

Shirou slowed his pace down at the signal, and Ilya let out a frustrated sigh. "It isn't really my thing." She admitted with a wince as she hobbled alongside Shirou a few moments before pausing. She down to the side of her thighs and rubbed at them and gave the red head besides her a limpid stare.

The self proclaimed Wizard quickly got the hint as he squatted down in front of Ilya. The silver haired teenager grinned as she threw her arms around his neck from behind and wrapped her legs around his waist as she pressed herself to his back.

"Giddy up!" Ilya declared with a tone that may have exceeded even Rin's imperial edict as her creamy thighs squeezed around Shirou.

"Y-yes!" Shirou yelped as he leapt up to his feet. Ilya let out a happy squeak as her arms tightened around his neck as he started back down the path to the Emiya residence. His body swayed from side to side from the added weight, and his cheeks flushed a bit as some adults gave him pointed looks.

He just prayed no one he knew saw this.

"Shirou-nii…" Ilya began as she soaked in the subtly jealous stares from other girls her age. Thrived below them like a plant, even. "Do you like Rin-chan?" She wondered. Her expression remained cool even as the red head beneath her wobbled.

"Uhm. Is this the right place for it?" Shirou delicately asked as they stood amongst an uneasy looking crowd waiting for the traffic lights to allow them to go on.

"Hm…probably not." The silver haired teenager replied as she leaned forwards up against Shirou's neck. "Just remember what I said before daddy interrupted us." With those words her right hand released its grip from around the teenager's neck and lightly scratched at his back.

Shirou gulped, and tried to put the thought of taking Ilya up on her offer to the side as the light turned green ahead of them as both he and Ilya joined the tide of humanity crossing the street. Now that he had gotten permission from the old man to stay with the Emiya family, it was mother fucking Wizard time!

* * *

"-Withdraw within elimination, engrave four areas and surround with the summoning circle." Kiritsugu's voice advised Ilya as she squatted on the floor.

Her father, Shirou, and herself were standing in an open room. The ground showed scuffed marks from where the two men had helped Ilya move heavy wooden tables that were filled with bits and pieces of scrap metal, ceramic pieces shaped in the resemblance of human limbs or other parts of the body, and even an occasional firearm.

Darkness cast a deep shadow underneath the tables and the occasional bookcase that hugged the walls from the series of blazing fluorescent lights high on the cement above them in the twenty by a hundred feet long room that had been carved out beneath the tool shed by Kiritsugu when he had decided to formally move into Fuyuki City.

"Right." The silver haired girl engraved the circle as she acknowledged her father's words.

"I've got a question." Shirou spoke up. Kiritsugu turned his gaze away from his daughter's work to acknowledge him. "Why are we using this side of the workshop when there's plenty of space over on the other end?" He pointed out.

Indeed, on the far end of the workshop, what looked like a munitions range had been set up. Unlike the portion of the chamber closest to the ladder leading up top, that side had armor plated walls and was completely barren except for several target dummies ranging from human like figures to some targets that were used for archery.

Shirou didn't say anything about how the dolls had several impact holes in rather dangerous looking places.

Kiritsugu chuckled, "There really isn't much connection to the earth on that side." He explained. Shirou blinked in confusion. "Hm…to put it this way. The cement and wooden floors we have on this side of the room are pretty poor conductors of nature, but they still aren't all that removed from it, really…" He began, and was secretly pleased by Shirou's attention. "They can still very weakly channel the energy of Gaia's leylines for our purposes. However, on the other end of room we have materials that were just processed by too many human means."

"So the steel ground over there can't channel the power, then?" Shirou wondered.

"Hm. More like I don't really want to risk it. I'm not such a good mage that I can really dare try it." Kiritsugu concluded.

"I've got the circle ready, daddy." Ilya looked up from where she finished scratching out the summoning circle.

"Good. I think I know where I put that book. Give me a few moments." Kiritsugu muttered as he went towards the back of the room.

"So, we going to summon a kick ass dragon?" Shirou's eyes shone as he squatted down besides Ilya. The sheer enthusiasm made Ilya chuckle.

"Sorry Oniichan, but the Holy Grail War can't summon a dragon. Phantasm Races, or non-human creatures of legend, are not allowed to participate. Besides, you'd probably snap if things didn't go your way and try and burn down Fuyuki City if you had one." She slowly grinned.

"Bah!" Shirou snorted. "You're acting like I'm that short tempered."

"More like hot blooded." Ilya replied, dragging out the beginning of her first word as she lazily replied. "Remember what you did to your room after you kept trying to jump that track and field bar back when we were in middle school?" She teased.

"T-taiga-neesan said it showed character that I wanted to succeed so much!" Shirou went bright red.

"Yeah. You were pretty manly back then." Ilya continued to lecture in a sing song tone. "How come I didn't see that Shirou until recently, though?"

"Snap." Shirou flinched and acknowledged Ilya's words with a nod. "I'll have you know I'm much more awesome than Shinji!"

"At running, maybe." Ilya's eyes gleamed with mirth. "Why don't you transfer from track and field to archery full-time? I think you'd be awesome with us instead of being a part-time member."

"You sure this isn't some grand scheme Ayako cooked up for me to join her club?" Shirou muttered blandly. He almost was tempted to go up to Rin next time and help her enslave the tomboyish brunette because of how often she tried to pester him into the team.

"Well, it would be pretty impressive if taichou's reach was so great she created a war just for the sake of tricking you into our club." Ilya giggled.

"More so since I actually fought in the last war." Kiritsugu's voice dryly replied as he returned to their side. In his hand, he held what Shirou tentatively labeled a grimoire, and it fairly radiated more history on just its covers than Kiritsugu had in his whole body. "I found the book we'll need." His words caused Shirou and Ilya to glance at him curiously.

"So we'll actually need to chant a specific aria? I thought you said the Holy Grail takes care of the summoning, daddy." Ilya quirked her eyebrow.

"Hm." Kiritsugu nodded. "It normally does, but I want to set up a specialized ritual for our young neophyte magus here."

"T-that's a horrible thing to say to your daughter, Emiya-san!" Shirou sputtered, causing the older man to boggle and Ilya to break out in peals of laughter. The older man's dark stare made him instinctively curl up and try to slid away.

"Regardless." Kirisugu sighed as he brought himself under control as he opened the book and knelt by Ilya. "I'll help you set up this ritual." He displayed a particular page to his daughter.

Ilya quickly glanced through it. A swiftly growing smile began to appear on her features. "Ooh…this is good."

"Isn't it?" Kiritsugu nodded. "It definitely took me by surprise in the last war. It'll also apply pretty well to our situation."

Shirou hopped to his feet. "Hey! What are you two talking about?"

Kiritsugu and Ilya glanced at him for a moment, and then at each other before Kiritsugu spoke to Shirou. "In the last war, I used a bait and switch tactic." He set the book down besides Ilya and stood up, dusting his yellow and green sweater off. "Ilya-chan's mother went up to the front lines with our Servant, Saber, and I stayed in the background to pick off enemy masters. It was easier to go after the masters because they are just humans - like you and I."

"I was telling you about what is allowed in the Grail War, remember?" Ilya continued as she read through the book. "Well, Phantasmal Races are one, Elementals or other extensions of our world that later on become independent are another, and Anti-Heroes are the third."

"Anti-Hero?" Shirou blinked. He thought all these limitations were pretty sucky.

"They're villains whose atrocious acts were ultimately helpful to mankind as a whole." Kiritsugu replied with a bit of a wry look in his eyes. "They became Heroic Spirits due to their great reputation because of those great deeds."

"Speaking of Heroic Spirits, that's what we'll be summoning." Ilya interrupted Shirou, recognizing the look in his face that heralded the storm of questions. "It's a figure who performed great deeds and are honored for them like Gods for time immoral." She grinned up at the red head. "We will get to command someone who came from a time when humanity as a whole was elevated much, much higher than we are now. They can do all manner of amazing things that break our understanding of physics and the way that the human body should behave."

"B-but wait…" Shirou stuttered.

"Huh?" Ilya blinked at Shirou.

"You're saying that the heroes of legend actually existed?" Shirou's stunned question made Ilya nod. "All of them?"

"Yes, what's the problem, Urobuchi-kun?" Kiritsugu wondered.

"T-then, why can't *we* do things like that…?" Shirou looked baffled.

"Well, Magi like us three *can* sort of perform a very pathetic, shadowed version of what the heroes from the past could do. There's also many people out in the world that have all manner of supernatural gifts and wondrous powers." Ilya smiled. "Actually, I heard a rumor about this place called Misaki…"

"No!" Shirou's declaration caused Ilya to bite back her words, and looked briefly frightened. "That's bullshit!" He stomped his foot. "Darwin is rolling around in his grave right now! Evolution does not work that way!"

Kiritsugu looked stunned. "Urobuchi-kun…" He reached a hand for Shirou's shoulder.

"I-it really doesn't! I swear!" Shirou turned panicked eyes on the two.

"Er…maybe we should go ahead and set this up. Daddy, can you let Oniichan know about our battle strategy?" Ilya quickly turned away and hurriedly began scrawling upon the ground.

"Son, I know that sometimes things don't really make sense, but there's no reason to get angry about it." He carefully led Shirou away from his daughter and towards one of the chairs tucked in between two bookcases about ten feet away.

"But…"

"Yes, yes. Darwin. Monkeys." Kiritsugu breezily replied. "Now, like I was saying, Ilya-chan's mother - Irisviel, and I made the plan so the enemy would focus on her while I took down the Masters. However, it wasn't a full proof plan because Irisviel didn't have Command Spells." He tapped the bandages on Shirou's hands. "But I found out there was a way we could adjust the ritual…"

"Go on…" Shirou still looked vaguely ticked off about having his concerns brushed off in favor of humoring his father figure. He looked pouty as he stared up at Kiritsugu from his comfy chair, though.

"Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi and his fiancee Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri performed an adjustment on their ritual. It allowed one of the pair to command the Servant, and the other would provide the energy to sustain it." Kiritsugu was about to continue, but Shirou's hand came up. "Yes?"

"First of all…the fuck is with those names?" Shirou's question caused him to snort in amusement.

"They're from noble families, Urobuchi-kun." Kiritsugu smirked. "It comes with the territory."

Shirou nodded his understanding. Damn pompous asses. He really hated the distribution of money in the world, and how it didn't favor *him* more often. "Well, second of all, what's the point of doing something like that?"

"Hm. El-Melloi favored to bunker down and use all of his magic to protect his position." Kiritsugu replied. "He used Sophia-Ri to prevent himself from running out of power."

"So how did you get that book, then?" Shirou wondered. "It doesn't seem like …a Wizardy thing to do?" He vaguely remembered that a mage's life were in spell books from his time playing D&D with Issei last summer.

The class president had too much fun playing a skimpily dressed female elven rogue for his tastes.

"Oh. I killed him. Fool didn't really expect to lose, so I had a pick of all the things he left behind." Kiritsugu shrugged. The absolute sense of apathy that radiate from the man seemed to briefly make all the shadows around Shirou grow darker.

"Holy shit!" Shirou's eyes widened. "B-but that's…"

"Shirou, you'll have to understand that people *will* die in this war." Kiritsugu began in a cold tone. "All of them are coming in with a wish that they want granted to the point that they will be gladly willing to give up many lives to gain. I know you're a reasonably kind person beneath all your bluster, but you have to be willing to kill if it means surviving." He knelt down before Shirou and gazed at him intently in his eyes.

"T-then…why can't I give them to you?" Shirou offered.

"The current administrator in charge of the War knows about my actions." Kiritsugu replied. "Please, I have no one else but you to rely on." Both men's eyes gazed deeply into one another as the world began to fade around them. "If you have one ounce of trust in me…believe in my words. The Holy Grail is not a thing to covet. It is an abomination that I gave up many things and many allies to remove from the world last time."

Despair and rage mixed in Kirisugu's eyes with a nearly crushing sense of loss. "Please, Shirou-kun…"

"I…" Shirou's throat burned as his declaration raspily came out. "I'll do it."

Kiritsugu had a faint, but sad smile on his lips. "Then I acknowledge you as a Hero of Justice."

Shirou felt a sense of finality descend on him at that.

* * *

"Soo…did daddy finish pitching his Honey Trap Plan to you, Oniichan?" Ilya greeted Shirou as the two men returned. Kiritsugu knelt down to carefully inspect the summoning circle while the silver haired girl pulled Shirou to the side.

"Y-yeah." Shirou looked a bit disturbed. Ilya gave the teenager a fond, supportive squeeze on the arms.

"Don't worry. Daddy and I are going to be supporting you from the back." Ilya smiled up at him. "Our Servant is going to be the strongest of them all!" The confidence radiating from the magus slowly began to seep into Shirou as both of them leaned up against each other.

Kiritsugu gazed up at Shirou and Ilya for a moment, but he gave them a nod as he stood up and moved towards one of the tables where a finely carved box was resting.

"Urobuchi-kun." Ilya's voice sounded calm. For some reason it sounded so much more mature all of a sudden that the red head had to glance to confirm the same girl was next to him. "Just make sure that the wishes in your heart don't absolutely consume you."

Shirou flinched back as a hollow look was in Ilya's red eyes as she stared at him intently. "W-what do you mean?"

"Just…keep an open mind and heart." The bizarre voice coming from Ilya's mouth continued as she closed the gap between her and Shirou. "Please take care of those that you love." She breathed into his ear as she leant upwards.

"Okay…" The red head gulped.

"Good." The woman speaking to him replied as she stepped back. Light entered Ilya's eyes as the teenager stumbled backwards up against the edge of a table before Shirou could react. "Ow! Why'd you shove me, Oniichan?" Ilya whined. "I didn't mean to say you were going to be the weak link on our team or anything."

Shirou boggled at the sudden shift in attitude. "I…the last thing we were talking about was the Servant?"

"Well…yeah." Ilya blinked as she rubbed the back of her hips with a wince. "Besides, you're our apprentice now." She grinned at Shirou. "I'll show you all sorts of neat tricks. Why, eventually you might even be able to take down a slime."

Shirou rolled his eyes. "Hmph. At least help me aim for something better. Like the Dragonlord or something. Still, are you sure that you don't remember…?" While it was easier to go with the younger girl's flow like it was with her mother, Shirou had to make sure he hadn't imagined that last conversation.

"It's ready." Kiritsugu's voice called the teen's attention. The older man was setting up the circle with a golden and blue sheath arrayed in the exact center. "We'll need to start now since it's almost time for Ilya's peak of energy."

"Hm…it's been a while since I last saw this." Ilya sounded melancholy as she walked up to Kiritsugu's side and ran a finger along the surface of the elegant looking artifact.

Kiritsugu's expression darkened a bit, but he remained silent.

Shirou glanced at Kiritsugu and Ilya worriedly, but Ilya's expression simply brightened, lighting up the room as she took her father's hands and pulled him out of the circle. "Well, let's get to it, then." Ilya chirped as she looked at Shirou with a smile. "Get in there, hop hop." Ilya clapped her hands.

Shirou moved into the magic circle and gazed at the two magi.

"Remove the bandages and repeat what Ilya-chan says, Shirou-kun." Kiritsugu advised. The teenager nodded and quickly ripped the bandages off and tossed them outside the magic circle as Ilya began to chant the words to the spell.

"Bare and silver and iron. Stone for foundation and the Grand Duke of contracts. My greater master Shveinorg for the ancestor -

The red head noticed glittering material scattered about the indecipherable inner circles and images of the spell.

"A wall for the descending winds. The four gates shall close and come out the crown. Let the three-forked road to the kingdom cycle -

The spell beneath Shirou's feet began to softly glow as the scattered dust and chalk were absorbed into the earth. A glowing magic circle rose up out of the earth to replace it.

At Kiritsugu's nod, Ilya reached out her arm over the magic circle and her father -

He cut her! With a knife out of freaking nowhere. Shirou was about to step out of the circle and give the older man a piece of his mind when Ilya snapped her arm out and sent droplets of blood onto the glowing circle.

Shirou found himself buckling as his Command Spells began to blaze.

"Enclose. Enclose. Enclose. Enclose. Enclose.

Five times for each repetition.

Just destroy the enclosed time -

Ilya continued without missing a beat and Shirou had to follow as the hands of an antique clock on the wall began to strike for seven o'clock. As the clock continued to ring, Shirou's eyes widened as an ethereal gale rose from the circle, lifting the artifact to hover in front of him.

His childhood friend was glowing with an inner light as streams of green symbols began to form around the back of her bare hand as she too began to rise, the skirt of her dress flapping in the wind as she held onto the book with her unwounded arm.

The magic circle is wildly spinning below Shirou at this point as it swiftly rises up so it's hovering at the same level as the gold and blue sheathe.

"Herbeirufen." Ilya declared in a foreign word as the magic circle suddenly smashed its way into and through Shirou. The rest of the red head's body joined the back of his hand in burning agony as the blazing red circle ate its way past him and sped into the sheath.

The moment it connected, four streams of emerald energy blasted out of the back of Ilya's right hand to connect with the brightly glowing sheathe - which promptly exploded in front of Shirou's eyes into a corona of golden light. The winds erupted out of the artifact, sending both Shirou and Ilya on a collision course with the back walls.

Until Kiritsugu was there.

Somehow the adult was able to snatch both Ilya and Shirou out of mid-air and away from the danger zone. The pulsing, localized tornado in the workshop raged furiously as golden bolts of electricity crawled along its surface. An overwhelming force began trying to push Shirou to his knees, but both Ilya and Kiritsugu kept supportive hands on his body to keep him from surrendering.

"What is that?" Shirou demanded.

"That, my boy-" Kiritsugu's voice began as the winds pulsed one more time before suddenly collapsing in on itself with the sound of something slicing through the winds.

Then Shirou saw *her*.

"-is Saber, your new Servant." Ilya whispered in awe.

The blonde that stood before the three Magi was one of the most amazing women Shirou had ever met. With golden hair shining underneath the lights of the workshop to rival the sun, and strikingly powerful green eyes, she presented an exotic image in her royal blue dress with its armor seemingly woven into it.

Shirou now understood how Heroic Spirits could be called the pinnacle of humanity as the thick aura of power and charisma wafting off the woman's body pulsed with an intent to annihilate any lesser beings who dared to command her.

Green eyes met sherry eyes.

"I ask you, are you my Ma-treacherous dog!" Saber roared with fury as her eyes gazed past Shirou and towards Kiritsugu. Her armored gauntlets tightened around nothing, but suddenly a shaft of air exploded out of her grip. With a roar, Saber launched herself at the amused looking older man.


	5. Chapter 5

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Man, this chapter was awful to try and work through in an otherwise humorous/light hearted story. Sorry about the delay folks.

Chapter 5: Rope Trick

Kiritsugu eyed the charging knight with a faint smile. However, his eyes were dark and pitiless as he mentally descended into his Magus Killer persona.

Plans to counter her charge rang in his head. Everything from using his Innate Time Control to deflect, dodge, or otherwise throw his attacker for a loop - to taking setting off dozens of wards in the workshop to liquefy, shock, burn, or even crush her. With her spell resistance at this level, they would be the equivalent of blowing dust at her, but it would also be more than enough to give him enough time to reach for the Thompson Contender he kept nearby to finish the job by placing an actual pair of his Origin Bullets into her cornea and swiftly turn the tables.

Profiles on his daughter, the young boy she fancied, and the knight came instantly came up within his minds' eye. Bullet points labeled all their psychological weaknesses and exactly what actions could be used in their presences to incite the reactions he needed. Those were likewise considered and made part of his plans. The Heroic Spirit possessed the most emotional and mental weaknesses of all four of them, in fact. It would be so easy to turn the tides. Much easier than the previous set of plans revolving around the usage of his magical abilities or force of arms.

Ultimately, the mage flared the od within his circuits. The rush of magical energy within the human body flared as it was processed by his magical potential and converted into prana for the usage of the skill his father had used as a key to damn himself to hell. Kiritsugu's vision distorted as his skin and nerves lit up from within. His heart began to rapidly palpitate, blasting oxygen through his body and brain as he triggered Innate Time Control - Accel.

Saber slowed to walking speed, while his daughter and his would be student slowed to a near stop. Kiritsugu's body screamed at him, muscles strained from releasing the boundary field around himself to control his personal flow of time. He ignored the screaming heat flaring through him, and he took one step forward and leaned to the right…

Emiya's personal field, which had been enhancing his flow of time, was instantly crushed by the will of the world, that section of time restored to the normal flow of the outside world. The knight's blade wetly tore through his torso - having missed his vitals thanks to his last moment usage of his ability. He could distantly hear the scream of his daughter and an enraged shout from his would be apprentice, but all he had eyes for was the stunned knight in front of him.

"Hate me if you must." Kiritsugu replied, his eyes lightening as he discarded the Magus Killer persona. In the end, he would not take the path he would have in the Fourth War and before. This was entirely the result of his own choices. "Do not hate Irisviel…or our daughter."

Saber clenched her teeth, her grip on the sword tightening. "It was a sacred pact! I swore that I would walk alongside you. Why did you do make me destroy it after we had come so far?"

"What's in the past is already done. You will serve a third party - not I." Kiritsugu's voice remained steady, even with Saber's blade stabbed in his flesh.

"Why?" The knight gasped and drew back. Excalibur, cradled within the protective sheathe of wind, was tainted with his dark blood. "So I can be betrayed again?" She demanded as Kiritsugu's knees wobbled, dropping him onto the ground. The knight stabbed her sword into the ground, her blazing eyes staring.

"Get over here!" Shirou threw his left hand, fingers curling up as he thrust his palm with his roar. The back of his hand blazed, one of his Command Spells burning in the flash fire of his rage. Saber's eyes grew wide as she was bodily lifted by the absolute command and flung in the direction that Shirou was standing.

Saber's Spell Resistance attempted to resist the order, but then she felt the flow of her prana utterly cut out. So shocked was she by her resistance crashing that the amount of will behind her master's order came crashing down on her, and she was transformed into a blue blur that smashed into Shirou, sending the two flailing into the tables arrayed behind them.

At the same time, Ilya rushed towards her father with a growing amount of panic, the gold and blue sheath of Avalon in her arms. She diverted as much prana as she could away from Saber and into the artifact in her arms. "Dad!" Sliding to a halt before Kiritsugu, she thrust the glowing object towards her father.

"No. It's fine." Kiritsugu winced, shaking his head, and clutching at his wound. "I don't need Avalon. It looks worse than it is. Hand me the medical kit, Ilya." His tone was so calm that Ilya was forced to set aside the artifact and walk over towards the supplies they had down here.

Shirou groaned beneath a turned over table. Pieces of glass glittered on the ground beneath him as he tried to stir, but something heavy stirred above him, pinning him to the ground. He weakly tried to glanced towards it, but immediately regretted it as his nose smashed into a steel plate.

He heard a moan above him. The red head squirmed, and he glanced up to see Saber's eyelids flutter open to gaze down at the male below her. Both of them silently peered at each other for a few moments.

"Hi. I'm your Master." Shirou awkwardly greeted.

Saber's green eyes sharpened for a moment as she was about to speak, but the door at the top of the staircase leading out of the workshop suddenly clattered open. Steel smashed into concrete as rapid footsteps carried a livid looking Taiga Emiya down the steps in her traditional green dress and yellow tiger striped shirt.

Taiga's burning gaze quickly swept across the room - from Shirou and Saber, who were still in their dog pile and looking increasingly awkward around each other to a jittery looking Ilya who was currently mending a stoic - and shirtless, Kiritsugu's wounds.

The response was apt. "What the hell are you doing you motherfuckers!" The woman roared at the four of them, holding her left hand close to her chest, palm facing them as her right hand extended her thumb, pointer, and pinkie fingers towards them, with the index and ring fingers curled inwards.

And no one ate dinner that night.

* * *

Shirou Urobuchi stared up the ceiling.

What an unfamiliar ceiling.

"…" Saber was lying next to him in full armored garb. The armor plates on her blue dress shone in the light streaming in from the partially open window. She laid out on top of the blanket he had covered himself with. Simply waiting. Waiting and staring.

What an unfamiliar woman staring at him.

What was he going to do?

Shirou tried to adjust his blanket. Saber remained uncooperatively still. Like she had been ever since his declaration.

Was she thinking about shanking him?

Well, she'd have to get up pretty early in the morning before she could pull one over on old Shirou Urobuchi, that's for sure.

But still…

"I'm cold."

…

Saber - Arturia of Camelot continued to stare at the red head from a few inches away, refusing to respond to his statement slash request. Her green eyes gazed from his wide open eyes down to his left hand where the remaining two Command Spells remained. One of which had been used to pull her away from Kiritsugu in a moment of weakness brought on by her prana flow being cut off by his daughter.

She reminded Arturia so much of Irisviel.

Yet those condemning eyes on young Ilyasviel's face had made the king squirm in place. It had subtly accused her for her sudden attack on her father. Scorned her for her lack of fair play - that which was expected of a knight.

She knew well that many people of the modern era thought of her legend as that of chivalry thanks to her connection to the grail. Oftentimes, she felt that she had to play up to the role for the sake of that notion. Mistaken as it was.

Arturia had come from a time predating the ideas of chivalry. During a time where she - as king, had been well within her rights to execute even her queen for her actions with her friend Lancelot. Arturia was not honorable in the ways that people attributed her legend these days.

She would do nearly anything to attain her wish. Except go to the depths that Kiritsugu had gone to in the last war. That's why it burned to be serving Kiritsugu's interests once again. She knew that her hard work and beliefs would once again be thrown back in her face if she stayed.

Arturia's mind began to steel itself. The images of her homeland kept trembling fingers at bay. Her breath was steady as she began to measure the weight of this one person versus her country.

"You have the silliest cowlick I've ever seen."

Arturia blinked at her nominal Master's words. The teenager was facing her on his side, propping himself up on his right elbow. His motions caused the covers to pool at his lap, revealing a thin white tee shirt with an odd brown furred anthropomorphic bear staring at her with two beady black eyes and a thumbs up.

A chill ran up Arturia's back for some reason.

"Do you ever speak? Or do you only do that when you're charging towards people to gut them?"

Arturia's lips peeled back in a snarl. "Who are you to question what I do?"

"No one." The red head's replied caused her growing anger to waver. "I'm really no one important, but for some reason I was dragged into this mess because I had 'potential'." The red head reached up his chin and lightly scratched it in amusement. "Don't even have any stubble - and yet here I am."

In her time, he would have been fighting and perhaps dying in her name. A sword knew no age limitation in her time.

"Then don't presume to step in the affairs-" The king began.

"Of your betters?" The young man's words acted like a slap to her face. "Because as far as I can see, I have to know about the affairs of everyone else or I am *dead*. Look, lady, I've been thrust into a world that quite frankly growing more fucked up by the second, and I know exactly squat about it…"

"Then why are you doing this?" Arturia snapped.

"…because it's the right thing." The look in the young man's eyes made Arturia strain against the rapidly flailing Command Spell as she tried to push herself up against the distance she was obligated to remain within of from the red head.

They reminded Arturia of her own eyes when she had drawn Caliburn so long ago.

"I…am not bright." The red head's lips quirked at the admission. "However, I can tell when I see bullshit." He nodded knowingly at her expression as he continued. "You said that Emiya-san betrayed you, right?"

Rage flared within Arturia's heart as she nodded.

"What for?" His question made her blink. "What was worth the risk that he dared piss you off, and then turned around and summoned you again?"

"It…" The king began uncertainly. "It was to destroy the Holy Grail."

"Doesn't that just strike you as really weird? Or at least stupid?" He glanced intently at her. "It's not something that Emiya-san would do. He's not someone who would pull something so weak. On top of that, why would he want to destroy something that would grant his wishes?"

Arturia remained silent. The red head continued to gaze at her.

"He said something weird to me before he summoned you, Saber." He uneasily began. "He said it wasn't a thing to covet. He called it an abomination."

"I refuse to believe that liar." The king clenched her fists. "That Grail - it's all I have."

"Then…don't believe in Kiritsugu!" The teenager shouted back at her. "Believe in me that believes in Kiritsugu!"

Arturia pulled back in surprise. "That's patently absu-"

"Saber!" His shout had become a roar as the red head leapt to his feet.

"Y-yes?"Arturia yelped as she scrambled a bit away from the red head.

"Let me fight alongside you!" He took a step forwards.

"What… what are you trying at?" Arturia's green eyes widened as she stared up at the teenager.

"Kiritsugu Emiya has betrayed you, but he's not longer your Master." The red head smashed his chest, "But I swear on my life and my name that I will not!"

"You can s-say that, but…" Arturia's eyes locked onto those fierce sherry eyes.

"If you become my sword, we can cut…no…cleave our ways to the heavens!" The teenager clenched his left fist, displaying his Command Spells to Arturia. "Even if it leads to my death, I can keep going so long as I can hold my head up high!"

"Y-you…" Arturia breathed.

"Who the hell do you think I am? My name is Shirou Urobuchi!" His hands lashed out and grabbed onto the king's own, causing a spark to run up Arturia's hands. Only Irisviel had really been touchy with her during the Fourth War. "Not Kiritsugu Emiya! I'm me! Shirou the Wizard!"

"Haah…" Arturia felt a spark dance in her mind, driving around the steel that had been forming. Her thoughts of betraying the young man began to fade away. "Answer me one last question, then."

Shirou's hands tightened around hers.

"I ask you, would you be my Master?"

* * *

Shirou's eyelids fluttered open the next morning. The tight skin around his eyes and bags under his eyes promptly punished him for spending most of the night raving in the style of his new aspiration in life. Why not shoot for the moon after finding out magic existed?

He glanced over at the slumbering blonde next to him.

"Worth it."

The teenager rose to his feet with that declaration and set to work getting his clothes ready for the day. Hopefully he could get a quick bath and get to the kitchen before Taiga tried to creatively poison them all. That, and maybe he could head some problems off by bribi- making some pancakes for Ilya.

In the frilly, unmanly looking apron.

With the yellow ducks and pink lace.

Gods, he was whipped.

With the bundle of clothing in his arms, and Saber no longer hounding his shadow, he headed out for the exit of the guest room and slid it open. Seeing no one outside the hall, he breathed a sigh of relief at maybe-possibly not getting his stomach pumped or punched this morning.

Shirou turned to the left and went for the bath.

Moments passed in the guest room.

"Ngh?" Saber softly muttered as she felt a half hearted tug at her left ankle. She responded by clutching at her pillows harder. The force responded by flipping the fuck out and causing her leg to shoot outwards. The king's eyes snapped open in shock.

What sorcery was this? Masters? Servants? Or maybe…

"Ghosts?" Was all she could say as she bounced forwards and flipped onto her front. Fortunately for the condition of the ground, the rightfully terrified blonde clutched at the blankets in her hands as she was dragged along the ground.

Saber let out a brief, undignified shriek as she smashed arm first into the door frame leading out into the hall. She bounced off the wood with a loud clanging noise as the vibrations of the impact wobbled throughout her frame.

"Wait…"

Wham! Once again she slammed into the door frame, this time an inch more to the right. Fortunately for her, this time her armored shoulder crashed into it. Not so fortunate for the door as pieces of wood cracked off and fluttered into her braided hair.

The king winced at the casual property damage as she bounced away from the door as her whole body reared back. Her instincts could almost sense the intent to just bull rush through the paper and wood this time, and she desperately scrambled.

"Not the head!" Saber yelped as she shot forwards on her blanket. At the last second she fought off the force just enough to roll onto her right side as the frame skidded along the front of her armor. She clenched her eyes shut as wooden shavings bounced into her face as she bounced once again and was now sliding at top speed along the hall.

Shirou peeked his head out of a room further down the hall. Steam wafted out of the room, and the red head had a healthy flush on his face.

The force pulling her increased, causing her to yelp.

"Saber, what in the world are you doi-eh?" Shirou screamed as Saber bounced into the wall directly opposite the bathroom and ricocheted off it like some sort of medieval pinball to barrel into, through, and past the bathroom door, sending him and her colliding into the ground.

His bath towel was lost in the wake.

Shirou and Saber both stared at each other in muted horror as the steam in the bathroom hung thickly around the two. Pieces of liquefied wood rained about them like treats from a piñata.

Saber glanced only a little bit below from where she was practically shoving her face into his navel.

The red head's lower lip began to tremble a bit. How could this day get any worse?

Ilya appeared, clad in a lavender button top and a pair of draw string sweats and holding a baseball bat.

Oh, that's how.

The response showed how much Ilya was her mother's daughter. "What the hell are you doing you motherfuckers!" The scorned woman roared at the two of them, holding her left hand close to her chest, palm facing them as her right hand extended her thumb, pointer, and pinkie fingers towards them, with the index and ring fingers curled inwards.

She was still gripping the baseball bat in her right hand.

And no one ate breakfast that morning.


	6. Chapter 6

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 6: Mind Blank

"Back in my time, you would have been dead before dinner, Master." Saber solemnly spoke, staring straight ahead where she was sitting in seiza position on the veranda. Shirou, with heavy bruising along his face and neck, was inclined to agree as he lay flat on his belly next to her.

The pair continued to silently gaze out onto the bare yard, while the cool winter air bravely fought to cool down the swelling heat Shirou felt on his face. Both heard a set of footsteps come up from behind them.

"Ah yes, the dog approaches." Saber coolly spoke up.

"Forgive me for not knowing my place, your majesty." Kiritsugu Emiya dryly replied as he crouched next to Shirou. "I'll try to remember better around my home in the future."

Saber tensed at the man's mocking tone. Shirou, knowing that shit was about to go down, lifted a hand towards her. "You sort of asked for it." The redhead noted, and he turned to face Kiritsugu. "Now, what can I help you with, Emiya-san?"

"I wanted to start training you." Saber's fierce expression dulled slightly at Kiritsugu's words.

"What does he mean by that, Master?" As the blonde's gaze went down to Shirou, he noted the animosity vanish from the depths of her gaze.

"I have never touched magic before in my life!" Shirou's happy expression set something off deep within the woman, and she turned towards Kiritsugu with flashing eyes.

"You're throwing a *civilian* into the war of the magi? Are you daft, man?" Kiritsugu stoically weathered the storm of Saber's rage as she snapped at him with all the disappointment and anger of a wronged ruler. Shirou was happy he hadn't pissed off another woman today.

"The Master of Caster in the last war wasn't a Magus either, and he did fine." The Emiya patriarch lightly responded.

"He was a *monster*." Saber snapped.

"Yes, and we're trying to make sure that you don't work for a monster again, right?" The dark haired man asked rhetorically. "I'd recommend you allow me to teach him without too much hassle. Unless you'd like for me to show Shirou-kun how to sacrifice lives for ritual magic?"

Saber closed her mouth. She mentally shuddered at the thought of her Master using the same type of strategy as Master of Caster in the Fourth War.

"Uhm…so we're not going to be doing that, right?" Shirou replied hopefully, having rolled upright and leaned up against one of the posts supporting the veranda. He guardedly watched over their argument. "I don't want to go off and stab someone in the face."

Well, maybe Shinji…

"You won't." Kiritsugu and Saber spoke as one. Saber glanced at her former Master a bit suspiciously, but nodded her permission for him to continue. "I'm going to teach you how to activate your Magic Circuits. Well, that's if you even have any."

Shirou frowned at the negative old man. He glanced over at Saber, and she shrugged.

"This is between you and him. I'll merely observe." The blonde knew well enough alone to not meddle in the affairs of Magi. They tended to be dicks. Or give her dicks.

* * *

Kiritsugu and Ilya's workshop was still as devastated as it had been when both Hurricane Saber and Superstorm Taiga had gone out of their way to ravage it with great fervor. Emiya pulled up three overturned chairs and placed them right side up along with a steel table.

Both Saber and Shirou sat on one side while the experienced magus sat on the other side.

"I'm basically going to go in a very general overview for you first." Kiritsugu began. "You can't even begin to dream of using magic until you learn at least a bit. Otherwise you'd be that jackass that can only run around and reinforce things that we Magi secretly whisper about and laugh ourselves silly over." His face remained stoic. "And that would be terrible, wouldn't it?"

Shirou felt an unnamed dread course through him.

"So, basically lesson one: The nature of the world." Emiya steeped his fingers before him. "To walk the path of the magus is to know death. One must be willing to deal death to people to protect the secret of magecraft from the greater world."

Saber nodded supportively as she took in Shirou's look of disgust. "But that's insane! Why can't we share the magic with others?"

"If the mystery of magic spreads too far, its power is diminished. I frankly do not care much for the rules." Kiritsugu paused at Saber's delicate snort. "But even I at least honor that one rule. The rest…do not really matter." He shifted in place. "Now, the reason I brought that up - The nature of the human soul."

"Oh god, this is starting to sound suspiciously like two nights ago." Shirou remembered the blue lancer well.

"You had a question about why Servants are stronger than us. It has to do with the nature of our power as well. Listen well." The older man retorted. "To put it in layman's terms, we humans have weight… or maybe density in our souls. The further back you go in history, the greater the density of the souls were due to the fact that there were less of us around."

"It surprised me when I first came to this era." Saber scoffed. "Magi in my time were quite capable of fighting on the front lines. Unlike these days…"

Kiritsugu ignored her. "The density spread throughout humanity. However, in certain people, greater amounts of this density is gathered. It manifests into different abilities sometimes, but it usually always starts off as a Magic Circuit.""So…I have to cast from my soul?" Shirou was shocked. That sounded ten times worse than casting from hit points.

"No. That's not quite right." Saber spoke up. "Mer-My magus friend told me that the body reflects the soul. So if you have Magic Circuits, you have them reflected in your body. Somehow." She looked at the magus in the room questioningly.

"Pretty much." Kiritsugu allowed. "Magi have an extra set of nerves which run through our bodies. What I want to do today is inspect your body and help you activate the circuits. Tomorrow we'll start getting you acclimated to using them."

"Um. How can I *activate* a nerve? Nerves really don't work that way." Shirou slowly muttered. Kiritsugu shook his head at him.

"It's not strictly in your body. They're in you soul, really. All it takes is accessing the mirrored circuit in your body and basically giving it a surge of power. From there on you just visualize yourself accessing it in whatever method your mind finds easiest." The older man rose from the table and started walking towards the back. "I'll be back in a moment. I need to find some materials so we can begin."

Shirou glanced over at Saber, "What do you have to say about this?"

"It hurts quite a bit." The knight pondered this gravely. "My magus friend tried to open my circuits once. I attempted to remove his spleen through his rear orifice."

Shirou gulped.

"You are basically going to be using something your physical body was not designed to use. It not only causes you pain, but it also numbs your body." Saber uneasily began. "I always thought Magi were suicidal. Or they were disgusting deviants who liked it."

"What was your friend?" Shirou wondered.

"Both."

* * *

"So, this is going to let me cast Black Tentacles on Saku- Ilya, right?" Shirou moved to stop his mouth on a check his ass couldn't cash against Kiritsugu over an hour later.

The spiky haired one raised an eyebrow as he finished drawing the chalk outlines of a magic circle around Shirou. He chose to ignore whatever the young man had said and headed back over towards to pick up a dagger.

"Now, there's many different ways I can activate your circuits, but the easiest is to allow you to drink some of my blood after I have flared my own magic circuits and flooded my body with od." Kiritsugu explained on seeing Shirou's blank look. "Internal magic energy."

Saber looked faintly amused. "You could always try the method my friend used for that female apprentice he took."

"No." Emiya immediately replied.

"Why, former-Master, would it not be the most expedient and pleasurable?" Saber breathed, as an ever so tiny smirk crossed her lips. "Why, even Taiga-san might get to enjoy watching it."

"No means no." Kiritsugu almost glared, looking a bit fearful all of a sudden.

It was all lost on Shirou.

"The analysis showed you have twenty-seven Magic Circuits. It's a rather amazing amount to find in a normal person, really." Kiritsugu hurriedly moved away from that uncomfortable talk. Mostly because he somehow could see his wife being curious enough. "Each of those circuits are pretty low quality, though. Maybe they could have been a bit better off if we had gone and activated them early, but…"

"Try not to share magic, right?" Shirou muttered in annoyance. Fucking wandblocks.

"Of course. Now, drink my blood." Kiritsugu slashed his left palm open. A steady flow of blood began to pool over his hand and onto the magic circle, which glimmered. With a look of disgust on Shirou's face, he leaned forward and began to drink.

Oh.

Oh dear god.

"Powerthirst flows through your veins!" The redhead gargled and foamed at the mouth, falling backwards. His collapse into a twitchy, rabid looking mess in the center of the sparking and shining magic circle was heralded with rabid undulations and praises to places and locations that would have shattered lesser mortal's souls.

Well, except a certain hardy people from a message board Shirou could still faintly remember.

It felt like he had was eating lightning, and his bowels were preparing for him to crap out thunder! Wave after wave of heat radiated outwards from his stomach throughout his body, while his limbs spasmed in place. His vision dimmed and lightened as he stared up at Kiritsugu and Saber with rapidly contracting and expanding pupils.

"Is…is he alright?" Saber worriedly glanced up at Kiritsugu from where she was squatting just outside of the magic circle. She didn't want to enter it and ruin the ritual with her magic resistance.

Kiritsugu moved to answer, but was interrupted by a suddenly howling redhead.

"Saber! Get her away from me!" Shirou raved as he tried to crawl backwards on his hands from the now bemused blonde. He thrust his index finger in the knight's direction. "Deceiver! Import from China! I'm onto your game!"

"Perhaps I should have used slightly less od." Kiritsugu admitted as he took in Shirou's flushed and reddened features. His cute little apprentice was probably baking his poor little brain at the moment thanks to his nerves flooding his body with heat.

Shirou howled as Saber tried to frantically wave her hands about, spluttering out denial after denial. However to the teenager's eyes, the female knight's face was a waxy, cheaply made caricature with two pitiless eyes. Eyes that knew no mercy. Only a dull assurance in the end of all things that were good and right! It opened its gaping hole where a mouth would be to speak, but Shirou threw his head back and howled against the damning proclamation the beast would deliver.

"Beast with a thousand young!" The red head raved. This thing! This thing! This thing could not be his Saber!

This abomination could only answer to one name. As awful, distorted, and sad looking as it was.

"SADER!" Shirou howled in unending agony.

Kiritsugu considered what he could do at this moment. He supposed he could do something to help. Perhaps in a few minutes. Kid had to learn not to make his daughter mad, after all.

Kiritsugu merely smiled, and watched Shirou Urobuchi's gibbering, ball tripping experience from afar.

* * *

It was late afternoon when Shirou stumbled back up to the beautiful, sane world up top again. With Saber's arm supporting him around the waist and Kiritsugu's solemn gaze on his back, the three found themselves standing around the front yard.

"Alright." Kiritsugu began. "We had a good amount of progress today."

"…we had to give him Avalon just to prevent him from descending into madness." Saber pointed out.

"Very good progress for a Magus." The elder Emiya praised. "Now, I want you two to go out now. I need you to formally enter yourself into the Grail War by meeting the manager at Kotomine Church. Avalon will heal your injuries quicker from your proximity to Saber."

"Emiya." Saber raised a hand. She vaguely gestured at how close she was holding Shirou to her. "Speaking of proximity, do you know what we are going to do about this? While the circumstances for giving Master my sheath were not ideal, it does bring to mind his early command…"

"That's where I come into this, I guess." Ilya's sulky voice spoke up as the young girl walked out of the living room and into the veranda to gaze at the three of them. Taiga was behind her, placing her hands on the teenager's shoulders. "That's my fault. My Magic Circuits boosted the Command."

Shirou blinked the haziness out of his eyes, swiftly returning to the land of the sane. "How does that work out?"

"Wishcraft." Taiga spoke up with a smirk. She shook the smaller teenager before her. "Ilya-chan here is super lucky normally. I always try to buy a lottery ticket or three whenever we go out to the market together."

"I was running my power through Saber-san when everything happened last night." Ilya grumbled and toed her foot on the wooden ground before her. "When you attacked daddy, I cut off your prana flow."

"You can do that? No magus should have such fine control over their flow." Saber looked disbelieving. What she had felt was too precise for someone human.

"Transmutation flows through my veins." Ilya looked vaguely amused. "I have to be really good at the smaller details when I work my normal magecraft."

Kiritsugu stroked his chin in thought. "That would make sense, then. The Command was enhanced and altered by Ilya's nature and a weakened Saber was unable to bring enough of her spell resistance to bear against it." He lightly bopped the side of his head and turned to Shirou with a completely deadpan expression. "Forgive me for thinking the worst of you in this particular instance, Shirou-kun."

The red head felt vaguely ticked off at that statement for some reason.

"I'm sorry Oniichan, can you please forgive me?" Ilya glanced at Shirou with wide, soulful eyes.

"More lip quivering, Ilya-chan." Taiga advised from where she had moved to the sidelines with Kiritsugu.

Saber's eyebrow twitched.

"That's…fine, Ilya-chan." Shirou began. Suddenly a look of horror crossed his face. "Wait! Don't do it! Not now!"

However it was too late. Far too late.

"IMPACTO!" Taiga whooped as Ilya cheered and promptly launched herself at Shirou at impressive speeds. Her body slid majestically through the air with a wide smile, with even widely thrown arms as the girl threw herself into a horizontal flight path straight towards Shirou and Saber.

Both of which squawked and merely got in each other's way as they tried to run in different directions, while still tightly held together by Shirou's earlier command of "Get over here."

It was a slaughter as Ilya snagged Shirou's left shoulder and Saber's right shoulder, and the three of them went down in a tumble of limbs and curves and a box of condoms.

"Don't encourage them." Kiritsugu merely intoned as he glanced over at an innocently whistling Taiga.

Another fine day in the Emiya Residence.

* * *

The stone hallways of the Einzbern's Castle were silent as the little whitehaired girl and her lumbering guardian explored the territory given to them for the coming Holy Grail War. No call had gone out for the beginning of the war yet, and it was best to ensure that there were no weaknesses in their defenses.

Ilyasviel von Einzbern found all this dreadfully boring.

The dark skinned little girl sighed, holding a hand up to a window facing the woods. The outside world lingered just slightly out of that, in turn. Longing surged deep within her as she simply stared out at the city that could faintly be seen out past the warded woods.

A tempting notion crossed her mind. The whispers deep within promising a fun time to be had outside if she simply blew through the window in her way and flinging herself down. All it would take was a fraction of her power and she would easily escape the castle.

Ilyasviel licked her lips at the notion of rushing out there with her Berserker and going wild. The silent guardian behind her back rumbled as he felt the intention through their shared bond.

Instead, the girl tiredly shook her head, sending a curtain of long silver hair fluttering about her shoulders. She reached up and ran od through her Magic Circuits, forming the prana for the spell she needed. Moments later, her completed work stood before her, and the window gleamed with an extra layer of mystic defenses added over it.

"Let's go to the next entry, Herakles!" The little girl chirped and turned up to face the massive man standing behind her. She laid her hands on her hips and authoritatively glanced up at her Servant. "Hopefully by the time we're done the War will have begun! Then you can help me get revenge~"

"Of course, Master." The mountain rumbled in a soothing voice. With a skin tone a few shades darker than Ilyasviel's own and powerful, rippling muscles somehow contain under a brown shirt which exposed his chest, and leather pants that tightly gripped his developed calves and legs.

"Up! Up!" Ilyasviel grinned at Herakles, holding her arms perpendicular to the rest of her body as the Heroic Spirit chuckled and lightly grasped onto the girl with an infinitely careful grasp before setting her on his shoulder.

"Let's go, Herakles!" The tiny girl musically laughed, gripping onto his wavy locks of brown hair as the two began to race down the hallways. Where once there was silence, there were only Ilyasviel and Herakles' peals of laughter.


	7. Chapter 7

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 7: Message

A Yamaha V-Max rested before them. Its surface gleamed in the setting sun.

Ilya and Saber found themselves standing in the yard of the Emiya home, looking confused at Kiritsugu and Shirou. The pair knelt in front of the gleaming silver motorcycle with a box of tools on the ground between them. They were leaning in and adjusting on parts with the tools in the case, attaching a sidecar to the left side of the bike.

"Shouldn't we go to the church and report in before night falls?" Ilya wondered with a pout.

"How did you keep a hold of this motorcycle, Kiritsugu?" Saber murmured, gazing at the familiar two-wheeled steed that stood before her once again. Unsure why, the king began to walk around the vehicle, her eyes taking in the gleaming chrome surfaces, and running her hands along the sleek body.

The rumble of the engines, and the feel of the wind rushing through her short hair was still a fresh memory for the blonde.

"I actually bought a new one for Taiga," The spiky-haired man replied, passing a tool over to Shirou. The two men began tightening the sidecar onto the main bike.

Saber glanced over at Ilya, who smiled a bit sheepishly. "Mom and I go on rides on the weekends, but she says I'm too bratty to ride behind her."

"That's because you are!" Taiga came in from around the building. "Who's going out for a ride?"

"Saber and Shirou-kun," Kiritsugu responded. "She has the ability to drive this thanks to her class."

The king came out of her ruminations at that with a start. "Wait, what? Why?"

"For starters, it will be a more efficient form of transportation for Shirou. You two can get there and back before night sets in. That way Shirou isn't exposed to any danger," Kiritsugu replied reasonably.

"Hm…you can go ahead and borrow it." Taiga nodded. She grinned at Saber ominously. "But you'll owe me a spar in the dojo tomorrow! I really want to see how good you are, Miss Spirit."

Saber opened her mouth to respond, but Ilya simply placed her hand on her shoulder. The silver haired girl silently shook her head. It would be pointless to argue with Taiga at this point.

"But…" The king began.

"No." Ilya shook her head.

"I just want to-" Saber lifted a finger and pointed at Ilya.

"I'll go get the dojo ready for when you return," Kiritsugu replied.

Saber shut up.

"You'll learn yet," Shirou sighed. It was always a painful lesson to learn.

"Go on ahead and put on something else. It's going to be dangerous riding around on this in that armored dress." Kiritsugu spoke up, and he and Shirou finished attaching the sidecar on the motorcycle. "We'll be moving the motorcycle outside."

Taiga and Ilya gazed at Saber with strange gleams in their eyes. Strange and terrible gleams.

* * *

'World, it's me, Arturia.'

"What's up with these clothes, mom?" Ilya's voice yelled. Both she and Taiga were rooting through the older woman's closet, pulling out and discarding clothing. Saber was seated before them in seiza position.

'Have I been done something to anger you?'

The frilly blouses and skirts came out first. Saber's feet and toes lashed onto the ground. With each wiggle, she attempted to subtly move herself a little bit further away from the two.

'If I did, I just wanted to say that I was sorry.'

The king discarded her previous subtle motions once the orange and green shirts started coming out. It was a brave attempt for escape, in Saber's opinion.

"Ngh?" Taiga's iron hold clamped onto her wrist. The older woman began dragging her back from the door at the same time that a pair of arms lashed out around the blonde's neck.

"It's time to play~" Ilya singsonged, helping her mother keep the king unbalanced.

'Really, I am.'

"I got the most adorable little dress the other day that I think she'd like!" Taiga happily spoke up. The king resisted as mightily as she could, considering the circumstances, but it was not enough when the sheer white…fabric was thrust in her hands.

Saber stared at the fabric in her hands blankly for a few moments. "…is this some kind of wash cloth?" The king wondered, looking up at Taiga and Ilya.

"No. That's your new outfit!" Ilya grinned.

"…but why would I wear a wash cloth?" Saber questioned with wide green eyes. Unfortunately for her, she quirked her head in a bird like fashion as well.

"O-oh…" Taiga flinched and took a step back in shock. "My goodness!"

"I…" Ilya licked her lips, her eyes shining. Her next words were shouted out in a squeal. "That's so adorable!"

"What?" Saber's hands automatically opened, dropping the fabric to the ground, and quickly took two steps back. She defensively raised her shield arm in front of her chest, blood rushing through her veins, and quickly glanced around attentively.

Not knowing that the light pink flush and position of her arm just made her look ten times more demure to both Ilya and Taiga.

"What a fearsome technique!" Taiga slapped her hands to her cheeks. "I must train harder!"

Ilya flushed, staring at Saber in horrified wonder.

"Are you three done yet?" For once in the last day, Saber sincerely praised Kiritsugu from the bottom of her heart.

"N-no! I need to borrow one of your suits!" Saber did not shriek. It was not kingly. However, she did quickly backpedal to the door under the fascinated gazes of the other two women.

"But those are mine…" Kiritsugu replied with a drawl, the door to the room opening before him. He quickly changed his mind the second his eyes laid upon the clothing streaming about the room. Especially when he glanced at the white set of clothing.

The man slowly blinked, then looked at the clothing, and then at his wife.

"…really, Taiga?" Kiritsugu's chiding tone was answered by an unruffled smile from his wife. He turned towards Saber and continued. "I think I might have some of the old clothes in the storage. Come on."

Saber eagerly nodded and began to move away with the older man.

"…and brave King Arturia bravely ran away," Kiritsugu whispered.

"Shut. Up."

* * *

"Are you guys ready in there?" Shirou finished strapping the rider's helmet on his delicate, and infinitely squishable head. He stood next to the sidecar out in front of the Emiya home. Of course, no one answered him, but it was the principal of the thing.

Like …ducks.

"God, that was a terrible comparison," the redhead sighed, leaning up against his sidecar.

"That's because you are bad." A recognizable voice called out. A horribly familiar person. "You are bad, and a terrible person, and you should die in a fire."

Shinji Matou had arrived with a sneering grin, and he was flagged by three women.

Like always.

"Hahah, Shinji." Shirou had a beatific smile on his face. "I fucked your girlfriend."

Shinji's sneering smile guttered out. The three girls that had been shadowing him murmured amongst themselves, and eyed each other suspiciously.

"…just kidding." Shirou grinned. "So, how goes your…things."

"Just fine, Urobuchi-kun. I came to apologize to Ilya-chan because I left her alone. What are you doing here?" Shinji sniffed, running a hand through his wavy blue hair. Shirou noticed the Matou was actually wearing something that wasn't his school uniform for once.

"I'm staying here over the break," Shirou responded. He wondered when he'd learn how to remotely make people's head explode. "Mot-Taiga-neechan thought it'd be a good influence to stay with them."

"Well, that's fine." Shinji held up his hands hopelessly. He snickered and continued. "Lord knows you need some decent parental figures in your life, Urobuchi-kun!"

Shirou's fists tensed, and the three girls with Shinji let out uncomfortable sounding giggles.

"Well, you should move along th-…wait, isn't that Tiger-sensei's bike? No one but her and Ilya-chan ride in it." Shinji finally gazed past Shirou to look at the bike. Two of the girls with him whispered amongst themselves and pointed at the bike.

"You know what they say about the mob, right? The Emiya family is kind of like that." Shirou's words may even be true. They certainly had enough firepower beneath that old shed of theirs. "So I get to ride in the awesome bike."

Shinji grimaced.

"Master, are you ready?" Shirou, Shinji, and the three girls eyes turned towards the call. Their jaws dropped as they observed the slim blonde that exited the front of the Emiya residence.

Gazing upon Saber, everyone felt their hearts throb to the beat of an ancient war drum.

A clean dark grey dress shirt hung off delicate shoulders. A black tie swished from around the king's neck, and she reached up to delicately adjust it with her left hand, which was clad in fingerless leather gloves. Saber rolled her shoulders to shift the black vest she wore over the shirt more comfortably on her person.

"W-who are you?" Shinji gaped.

"Hm?" Saber gave him a dismissive glance with her bright green eyes. "Yes," She distractedly mumbled, and turned back to Shirou with a smile. "I'm sorry I took so long getting dressed, Master."

The girls looked stunned, their gazes whipping from Saber over to Shirou.

Shirou wondered what Shinji's tears tasted like right now. He bet they tasted delicious.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just talking to my butthu-" Shirou coughed. He grinned over at Saber and gave her a thumbs up. "Wonderful friend, Shinji. Looking awesome there!"

"Thank you, Master." Saber sounded vaguely relieved. At least there was one more sane person in the home besides Kiritsugu. She shrugged on her dark coat, and ran her hands out to her neckline to free her blonde ponytail. "Shall we go?"

At this point, Kiritsugu, Taiga, and Ilya walked out to the entrance to see them off. Saber threw her leg over the bike and mounted it. Slipping the key in and lighting the ignition, the king glanced over towards the four staring teenagers while Shirou got into the sidecar.

"They seem more like vassals with how attentive they are," Saber mumbled, causing the Emiyas and Shirou to smirk, and Shinji to clench his teeth. She gunned the engine and the two raced away from the house. The redhead happily waved at Shinji, leaving him behind.

Shinji stared in their wake.

"I'm breaking up with you, Shinji," Ilya promptly declared. She and her parents walked back indoors.

Shinji twitched. His fists clenched.

"Ffff-!"

* * *

Saber was mildly concerned for the well being of her Master. Either he was remembering extremely humorous situations, or she was going to have to find some leeches and drain the madness out of him. She didn't really think it was season for leeches though.

The king kept one hand the handles of her motorcycle, and reached over to gently slap her possibly insane Master. "Get yourself together, Master!"

"Ooh…I needed that," Shirou wheezed out with a smile. He glanced up at her happily. "Thanks, Saber."

Good. The leeches would not be needed today.

"That's fine, Master. What was so humorous?" The two of them carefully took a corner. The wind playfully ran through Saber's hair, briefly making Shirou's expression of mirth fade while he glanced at how the golden locks danced about.

"Well," Shirou shrugged, and he went with the truth. "Shinji really isn't my friend. He's petty, but he makes it his life mission to act like an ass and cockblock me."

Saber paused, using her connection to the Grail to try and decipher that mass of nonsense. "So…he basically infuriates you, because he's withholding the opportunity to engage in sexual congress with him?" She blankly stared. "I am sorry, but I think I have something crazy in my Grail connection."

The redhead stared at her in mute horror.

"Right, something crazy," the blonde coughed.

"N-no! I mean yes! It's bad! Terrible!" Shirou waved his hands about in the air. "I want to put it in his sister! His sister!"

"Oh, I see." Saber blinked. She muttered the next part a bit sheepishly. "Have you tried to ask her? I mean, I assume you'd have to be married afterwards. Is that how it's done these days?"

Shirou began to snicker.

"Y-you just said my connection was bad!" Saber sounded offended. "Please don't make fun of me because I'm not from this time!"

"H-heh, sorry." Shirou shook his head. "Um. These days we can have …relations without it going immediately to marriage or ruining someone's reputation or anything."

"Really?" Saber blinked, looking scandalized.

"Yeah. Is it weird? The only problem with that sort of things these days are like…diseases or women getting pregnant. We took care of those problems with -"

"Condoms, right?" Saber perked up, causing Shirou to choke. She nodded to herself authoratively. "I read those boxes that Taiga threw at us."

The naivety shining from the blonde's face made Shirou's insides hurt. "Y-yeah."

"Well, just make sure we focus on this war. I'll need you to have relations with Ilya over and over again to keep me topped off." Saber nodded.

"D-does it work like that?" Shirou wondered, stuck somewhere between glee and mortification.

"I'm…not really sure either," Saber hummed. "It sort of came from my friend. He was a pretty shady sort. Probably would get along wonderfully in this time frame with all you deviants," she concluded with an amused snort.

The sun began to sink into the horizon with the Kotomine Church drawing closer ahead. Saber brought the motorcycle to a stop in front of it, and turned off the ignition after kicking down the stand.

"I'll wait up front for you, Master." Saber twitched her fingers to get some flow into them. "Call for me if you need me." She waited for Shirou to get off the sidecar, before sliding off the bike, and following him all the way up to the entrance.

The redhead nodded in acknowledgement, pushing the doors open, and entered.

* * *

The dark, dank home reminded Medusa too much of the Shapeless Isle to her liking. The smell of spilt blood and decay hung as thickly to the Matou Home as it had to the lands Medusa had protected centuries ago.

The masked shadow found herself stalking angrily along the halls in remembrance. The woman moved from one shadow to another, bristling at the thoughts of the 'heroes' of old. Mostly because their legacy had carried into these modern times.

Or perhaps it was the legacy of men?

Medusa was no fool. Even when she had descended into the madness of that damned goddess' curse, she had retained her wits, and in this era she was sharper than ever. She caught onto the things her nominal Master suggested when he was in the presence of her.

They disgusted her.

What sort of fool was he to think he would be able to force himself on her? Hers had been a legend of annihilating the lustful men that came for her two sisters in search of violating their beauty. To stain their innocence.

Even when she had fallen to a man who had actually seemed to be in it to stop her rampage from growing out of control, she had gone with the knowledge that her two sisters were safe. Bitter knowledge, since they had become her final meal before the end.

Medusa materialized in front of the door to the room of the one she wished to converse with.

"Master, it's me," Medusa called out to the door in the hopes of speaking to Sakura Matou. At least without the presence of the hateful males in the home.

Insects could be heard crawling in the walls.

"What is it, Rider?" Sakura's soft voice whispered from the other side. It sounded wobbling and weak. "I'm not feeling well right now. Could you come back later?"

"Master, I wish to talk to you about the wa-"

"We've gone over this over and over again. Niisan is your Master, Rider," Sakura sighed, sounding tired. The sound of mattresses creaking could be heard.

"…then why not come out with me, Sakura?" Medusa pitched her tone so she sounded casual. "Your school is gone, right? Even Master is playing," the purple haired woman replied, pressing herself up to the door. She considered phasing through it, but she didn't want to betray her summoner.

"Well..." Sakura hesitated. The footsteps drew nearer.

"Or we could even play a game here," Medusa hurriedly continued. "I'm not very good with the newer ones, but I bet we could practice together. Doesn't that sound fun?"

"I-it does." The sound of the door unlocking could be heard. "Well, c-come in-"

The sound of the front door crashing open could be heard. The door quickly locked in front of Medusa, causing the Gorgon to quietly hiss to herself, and she resisted the urge to rip out chunks of the walls around her.

"Rider! Get over here, Rider!" Shinji loud voice caused dark creatures underfoot to skitter into the darker corners of the dim hall. The Gorgon carefully masked her expression while she started moving away.

"R-rider…" Medusa paused at Sakura's voice. "Let's try again later, okay?"

"…okay." The purple haired woman smiled, quickly moving. She found him shortly afterwards in the main den, looking furious as always. Pathetic lout.

"Where were you?" Shinji snapped. His face was turning red.

"I was investigating the defenses," Medusa smoothly lied. She made sure to put the proper amount of deference in her next statement, since Shinji could spot insincerity. "What may I do for you Master?"

The blue haired teenager paused and dissected those words. Finding nothing wrong with them for now, he nodded. "Yes. I am the Master, aren't I?" He walked over towards a book case nearby, and drew out the disgusting tome that forced her to listen to him.

The worm skin the book was bound in almost twitched underneath Shinji's fingers. "As the Master, what I say goes, right?"

Medusa stayed silent.

Fortunately it seemed Shinji had a bigger concern than attempting to prove his superiority over her. "Rider, I want you to go and kill a pest by the name of Shirou Urobuchi. Make sure you stop him before he gets to the bridge. He's currently riding a motorcycle with a blonde woman in a black suit."

The woman continued to gaze at him.

"…go now," Shinji command.

"How will I find them?" Medusa carefully questioned the man.

"That's not my problem. He was heading in the direction of the church. He has red hair. I expect you to go take care of this now." The blue haired teenager paused and glanced the way that Medusa had come from. "Has Sakura come out yet?"

"No." Medusa clenched here fists.

"Oh well. She always gets this way when the need hits," Shinji darkly chuckled. "The sow will come squealing for me sooner or later, even if she attempts to lock herself away."

"…I shall go then." Medusa refused to let Sakura stay alone with the beast before her one moment longer than she could help.

"Hm…go get a motorcycle when you take care of them," Shinji mused. "You're a Rider, right? May as well put you to some use since you refuse to gain prana from me the fun way." The man turned and began to walk away. "I'll see if Grandfather can lend me a scrying device so I can monitor you from here. Put on a good show worthy of Shinji Matou, alright?"

Shinji walked away laughing, leaving Medusa to grit her teeth.

Well, it was time for her to crush a Hero in the name of her Master.

Then Medusa and Sakura would be one step closer to having their wishes come true.


	8. Chapter 8

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 8: Haste

Shirou's pressed forward into the Kotomine Church, the heavy oak doors swinging open before his hands. As he entered, a gust from an air conditioner and the haunting notes of an organ blasted into his face.

What kind of weirdo had the cooler on in Winter?

Shirou shrugged off the thought, closing the doors behind him. He turned back to face the interior of the Church, the organ continued playing in his ears.

The chapel itself was rather large. Several wooden confessionals lined up along the exit. Possibly for the sake of people that really had screwed up, and needed to get away before the priest saw them after confessing.

That was a pleasant thought.

The redhead stepped forwards into the brightly lit room, gazing in front, and to his sides curiously. Rows of empty pews stretched as far as the eye could see. His steps echoed on the wooden floor, and carried him forward past the windows. A glance showed the graveyard on the left side of the church.

Endless rows of tombstones could be seen from in here. They desperately clawed upwards for one final moment of attention for the sake of those that had passed.

How grim.

Up ahead, the teenager saw the priest's pulpit, and a closed wooden door behind it that led deeper into the church. To the right of the pulpit was the source of the music.

A teenager with wavy, light grey hair continued to play the wooden organ in front of her with a serene expression. Shirou cleared his throat, but the girl continued to ignore him in favor of playing the organ. Its haunting melody swept upwards to the roof of the chapel.

Now it's kind of creepy.

"H-hello?" The redhead tried one more time.

The music sharply cut off. The girl's hands froze in mid-air and curled downwards towards the keys of the organ before her. She slowly turned her head to the side to gaze up at him, with one golden eye lazily half opened.

"Welcome to the Kotomine Church." The teenager spoke up, pushing the wooden bench she had been sitting on back. The loud screech of wood in the sudden silence made Shirou internally wince. The girl stood and turned to face the redhead, her dark robes shifting about her body.

"Have you come for salvation, Oh Forsaken Child?" The grey haired girl stepped closer to him. Shirou took a step back at her words, a shiver racing down his spine. A tiny, barely noticeable smile was on her face. "My name is Caren Ortensia. You have nothing to fear from me. For I am the staunch ally of all defeated Masters in this Holy Grail War."

Caren's golden gaze slithered along the back of his left hand. Shirou slapped his right hand over it.

"Um. Sure. I just wanted to let you know I summoned Saber," the redhead explained hurriedly, feeling creeped out over how the girl before him was acting. "If you're the person in charge, that's all we need to know, right?"

Shirou glanced past her shoulder to the small wooden organ Caren had been playing at, and then at the window in front. He vaguely saw her draw closer to him from the side of his vision, despite the glare of the city out in front.

"Why are you afraid of me? You are a Master in the Holy Grail War," Caren chuckled softly. "You have much more to fear than a lowly nun."

"Ahah." Shirou took a step to the right. The thick, choking smell of jasmine and something strange and metallic stuck to the roof of his mouth.

"Well, as the manager of the Fifth Holy Grail War, I now recognize you." Caren stepped back. "What is your name?"

"Shirou Urobuchi." The redhead's tense muscles relaxed.

"Well then, Urobuchi-kun, may I ask you one last question before you go?" Caren brushed the tip of her finger against the side of her cheek thoughtfully.

"Okay." Shirou leapt at the chance to hurry up out of here.

"Is your life worthless?" Caren stared into Shirou's eyes.

"The hell kind of question is that?" Shirou snapped, taking a step forwards Her golden orbs danced with merriment, while his sherry eyes clouded over with anger.

"Oh, it's just an observation," Caren calmly replied. "I studied the last Grail War, and I found that things did not grow worse with the loss of the Masters of the Fourth Grail War. In fact, things even improved with their deaths, and the three surviving Masters improved the world in their own way."

Shirou drew to a stop, anger diffusing at the moment. "Really?"

"Perhaps this ceremony deserves the title of Holy Grail," Caren mused thoughtfully. "Since it does God's work in separating the chaff from the wheat?"

Shirou looked horrified. "That's…monstrous. How can you say something like that? They're still people."

"Hm. Perhaps you're right." Caren clasped her hands before her, and dipped her head silently. A few moments later, she separated her hands, and glanced up at Shirou. "Still, you did not answer my question. Do you think you have something to give to the world? If not, you may very well die…"

The redhead took a step back. Words did not come to his lips, but his brow furrowed in thought.

"Interesting…most of the Masters continued yelling at this point." The nun rubbed at her left arm. "Another told me he had no value to the world."

"Someone told me he wanted me to become a Hero of Justice in his place." Shirou finally spoke as he glanced at his feet. It was a weak answer. "Someone I almost consider a father."

"Yet you're not looking at me while giving me that answer," Caren replied gently. "Perhaps it's something you're not comfortable wielding as your personal truth?"

Shirou slowly nodded.

"Well, having high ideals is something a loving parent would have, right?" Caren's voice sounded a bit strained.

"…no. My real father routinely considers me a loser." Shirou looked up at Caren. The girl took a step back in surprise. "But he's never told me what to do or kept me from experiencing things for myself."

"Is that so?" The grey haired girl's expression was once again cool, but her eyes blazed with an inner light.

The redhead nodded, "He'd tell me to blurt out the first thing that came to my mind, and then man up when the consequences hit."

"So then, what is the answer you acquired?" Caren leaned forward, looking eager.

"Forty-two." Shirou smirked when Caren snorted in amusement. He turned and headed out the chapel.

Caren moved towards the organ in the back of the room once she heard the sound of a motorcycle starting. However, halfway there, she saw the doorknob for the back entrance begin to twist. She prepared her body for the pain she knew was to come.

The nun gagged, wave after wave of corruption pounding up against her very soul. She crouched low to the ground, her damned body reacting instinctively to the presence of a demon.

Or something evil enough to make it one.

Kirie Kotomine walked out, ignoring the blood splashing onto the ground beneath Caren. The man's empty brown eyes gazed down upon the convulsing body of his daughter. Spikes sliced out of her robes, and she gasped soundlessly, clawing at the air.

"Thank you for your continued sacrifices, Caren." The priest straightened the long blue coat over his dark outfit, sending his golden cross swinging in front his neck. "Now that you have met all of the Masters, this little performance can begin in earnest."

Caren twisted onto her side with a muffled thump, gasping and shuddering, before she was able to get her ability under control.

Kirie nodded thoughtfully. It was good she was starting to gain some measure of control around him. He couldn't afford to have her die yet.

"He has Emiya's servant," the priest mumbled, "How unfortunate it is that Kiritsugu wasn't blessed by the Grail. Regardless, we will have to start working our way around him." He walked over towards the shaking girl at his feet.

Kneeling down, he placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, causing her to begin shrieking anew. He took her up in his arms, ignoring the new spurts of blood coming out of her body. He took her to the back to treat her and place a temporary patch on her.

At least, enough so she would not die overnight.

* * *

Rider found herself stalking the streets. She ghosted from street to street intangibly, her presence that of a mere phantom to the majority of the people far below her. Her vision through the Breaker Gorgon visor painted everything around her in a dark violet tint, allowing her to see the affairs of the humans below.

The shade came to a stop on top of a convenience store's rooftop. She quickly made out a few mopeds, and even a yellow Vespa parked below her. Rider's eyes were drawn in particular to the black circle with the English letter 'P' and an exclamation mark, finding the oddity vaguely hypnotic.

The Gorgon found herself focusing on that vehicle for a few moments more than she should have.

Rider shook her head, preparing herself to move on again. Her legs bunched beneath her, and she launched herself off the rooftop with the deceptively hidden strength of her toned legs. Her long purple hair trailed behind her like a comet, and she landed more than a block away in an alley.

Rider huffed, and finally decided to rely on the Grail. The device that had summoned her had information on Fuyuki City within it. With that information, she'd be able to find someplace she could guarantee had motorcycles around for her to take.

She closed her eyes and began to sink into the Grail connection. Her nature as an Anti-Hero sympathetically pulsed with the darkness hidden underneath the thin surface of her connection. Medusa, the monster of legend, flourished under the vile, disgusting curse even as Medusa, the woman and sister, was intellectually repulsed by it.

The darkness that had insidiously wormed its way into the Grail, and which had allowed creatures like her to be summoned, gave the impression of humor at the Gorgon's plight. It willingly gave the information on the city, whispering into the part of her that was monster to rampage free. Rider ignored it and once again made a note to never over rely on her Monstrous Strength ability.

The sound of echoing footsteps bounced about the packed alley, and the purple haired woman opened her eyes. There, in front of her, was a white haired man with tanned skin leaning casually against the entrance of the alley, and glancing directly at her.

The man was a Servant.

Two iron nails, connected to each other by a steel chain, formed in her hands. She scowled at the man dressed in a black silk shirt and long beige khaki pants. His steel grey eyes shone in the dying embers of the sun.

"Hello Rider, I'm Archer," the man calmly introduced himself. He pushed himself off and turned to walk closer to the intangible woman. The cold wall of the alley was behind her. How foolish of him to expect she couldn't escape through the rooftops, though.

Even more to dare get in melee range when she was the second fastest class!

In a blink, she went tangible and fired off her nail at Archer's head. The links of the chain rattled loudly, the tip of the weapon soaring for Archer's eye, but it was suddenly deflect. Sparks flew in the alley, her nail wildly bouncing off its course.

Steel clashed against steel. Rider hauled the nail back and alternated in her shots at the man. However, nothing she did could get the nails within a certain distance of the man. A jolt of shock raced up her spine when a white blade materialized in his hand, revealing him to be a false Archer.

Rider went intangible to prevent the humans from seeing her, leaping away to gain some room. The white haired man swiftly followed after her, his clothes dropping into a bundle below him. He now soared alongside her in a red mantle and black body armor.

The two spirits soared onto the surface of a wide, two story building, and went tangible. Rider growled at the white haired man, their steel clashing against one another.

"I want to talk," he spoke out, and ducked under a sweeping kick from the woman. Archer caught the back of her thigh with the flat of his sword and shoved upwards. Rider went with the motion and launched a flip kick on the tanned man.

A second blade, dark to the former's white, manifested in his hand to block it. The white haired man stumbled back two steps, while Rider landed in a ready stance, low to the ground. Immediately she shot a nail towards his vitals, but it was met by one of the man's flung blades.

A loud clang echoed, sparks blasting outwards to be consumed by the sun's dying rays. Rider quickly moved to retract her weapon with a powerful tug. While it flew back towards her, she quickly fired another of her nails at the man.

He responded by flipping forward, and smashing his left foot down on the length of chain while he flung the black blade. The weapon sliced through the air before stabbing into the links of her weapon, pinning it to the roof, and temporarily leaving her defenseless.

The white haired man held his hands up, showing they were bare. "See? Talk."

"Then go ahead and speak." Rider suspiciously replied. She remained in her ready position, able to dart in any direction she'd need to escape from the man. He had already lied to her once, after all. The man merely crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I would like to propose a treaty," the man cheekily continued, propping himself against a chain-link fence running along the edge of the roof.

"And why should I do that?" Rider narrowed her eyes.

"It's simple. You treated me well in the past, and I want to treat you well now. I also hate Shinji Matou quite a bit." The white haired man's words made Rider step back in shock. How had he known? "Let's work together and get Sakura Matou away from that awful family."

The fake Archer's face grew serious, and he approached her, offering her a hand in peace. "How about it?"

"I…don't ever remember seeing you before." Rider blinked, confused at the man's offer. She had never interacted with anyone in the past like this man. She knew for a fact that the only person to have survived her days as a Monster was Perseus.

Could…could this be him, reborn?

"Hahah. Well, my heroic legend would have never started without your help, Medusa." The man calling himself Archer smiled at Rider warmly. "So, I'll help you put on an amazing show tonight. Something so magnificent that it will distract Shinji long enough for me to break in and free Sakura."

Did…did this person really mean that?

"But, if you know all this about Shinji and Sakura, you must know that their grandfather is a Magus of great power," Rider began, though wild hope surged within her.

"That's fine. I'll unleash my Noble Phantasms on them if they try anything." The man's confidence began to seep into her. "I need to make up for some past mistakes of my own, so please allow me the chance to fight with you!"

"I…y-yes!" Rider went tangible, and she took a step closer. His mention of multiple Noble Phantasms cinched it for her. This surely has to be the same person she had died to in another lifetime. The person she owed heartfelt thanks to for freeing her from her berserker rampage.

"Alright!" The white haired man cheered, clenching his left fist, and bringing it up in front of him in guarding position. His right hand was drawn closer to his chest. "Let's do this, then! Repeat after me!" His hands dropped to his sides.

In a blur, Archer thrusts his right arm at a diagonal to his left, rotating clockwise until the arm is fully extended to his right. He then quickly pulled his right arm into his waist, while extending his left arm at a diagonal to his right.

"HENSHIN!"

The golden flare exploded outwards from the man's back, the setting sun drinking it greedily.

* * *

Night began to slowly settle down over Fuyuki City. Saber and Shirou found themselves riding down the slowly emptying streets. A bluish, black cast covered the skies, and the faintest appearances of stars began to streak across the heavens.

"That girl was crazy." Shirou once again insisted. "Like, almost cultish crazy."

Saber smirked. "Well, it does take a special kind to manage the Grail War." They slowed down at a stop light, allowing pedestrians to cross in front of them. "However, it doesn't mean you should be so fearful, Master. It reflects poorly on your Servant."

Shirou grumbled at the chiding tone. "Creepy girl is creepy."

Saber chuckled. However, her mirth began to fade from her face at the sound of a motorcycle coming up behind the blonde and redhead. Shirou glanced back to see why Saber's expression had gone stone cold. "What's wrong?"

"Hello." The woman standing on Shirou's side of the motorcycle had her face hidden underneath a purple mask with an odd crimson etching on its front. Leather straps wrapped around the sides of her head back into a thick braid bun.

She was clad from her neck to her legs in black. A collared leather jacket with a crimson scarf billowed in the wind across from two long pigtails that streamed out to the middle of her back. She shifted slightly forwards to give the staring youth a tiny smirk.

"I am Servant Rider," the woman announced clearly. Saber's hands gripped the handles of their motorcycle tightly.

"My Master has ordered you to die, Shirou Urobuchi." Rider's next words caused Shirou to gasp, ice flowing in his veins. "But he also said that he wanted to make things interesting." Her long legs flexed, tightly gripping onto the predominately white and red motorcycle beneath her.

Shirou glared. "You call yourself a Rider? You are no ally of Justice!"

"So let's do that," Rider continued her challenge, ignoring Shirou's outburst. "Let's race with your life on the line!" Both cycles purred, the traffic going west and east cutting off. Sweat began to bead on Shirou's forehead, and the red light blinked off.

Both women tightened their grips on the accelerators, shooting off with a screech of tires at the signal of the blazing green traffic light.

* * *

"Archer is a True Credit to the Team" Score Card:

- Life Saved.

- NTR End Avoided.

- Rider Flag Gained.

- Sakura Route Opened.

- "Card Ga-Servant Duels on Motorcycles" Achievement Unlocked.


	9. Chapter 9

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 9: Haste II

The three sped past the intersection, their motorcycles roaring at one another. Several people looked up in surprise at the sudden speed both cycles attained. Saber whipped their bike away when Rider playfully swiped at them with her left hand.

Shirou yelped, bouncing up, and bumping his head into Saber's firm side.

The redhead resisted the urge to scream when a honking truck soared towards them from Saber's impromptu dodge. The blonde merely gunned the throttle and shot ahead at the vehicle's two headlights. At the last possible moment, Saber turned sharply and caused their motorcycle to leap off the street and onto the sidewalk.

Saber and Shirou flew down the concrete, pedestrians shrieking and diving out of their way. The blonde quickly made their bike spin and curve around the few people that weren't able to move quickly enough.

The scent of blood thickened in the air, sending a tingle up Shirou's nose. He quickly glanced back, watching the masked woman approach from the right, and steadily gaining until she was less than three feet behind them.

"Get down!" Saber's right arm exploded in bright blue light, the sleeve of her suit erupting in tattered fabric, and a gleaming silver gauntlet manifested over it. She threw her right arm behind Shirou's head. The motion caused him to duck his head, sparks ringing out from the pointed, iron nail crashing harmlessly off Saber's armor.

"You have to move better than that!" Rider's voice laughed behind them. She pulled back her nail with a sharp tug of her hand. Unlike them, she was completely in her element, face smooth and blemish free to contrast the intense look of concentration on Saber's face. "Or you'll get others involved!"

A child's scream rang up ahead. Both Saber and Shirou's gazed snapped ahead towards a little girl. Her mother was leaning forward from where she was pressing her whole body against a building to try and snatch her out of their way.

"Saber!" Shirou's fists gripped the edges of the sidecar.

"Hold on!" The blonde kicked out with her left leg. With a loud crack of cement, the two of them were sent sharply to the right. The force was enough to briefly lift the left side of the bike up and over the girl and her ducking mother.

The purple haired woman boomed a laugh. She smashed both legs into the pavement, launching herself and her bike over the two of them at the same moment.

"We're going to crash!" The sidecar with Shirou in it was loudly dragged along the side of the road, spitting sparks and flame.

"Not on my watch!" The blonde retorted, gathering prana deep within her. With a shout she punched directly in front of her, releasing the energy in a brief flash of mana, the Mana Burst used as a makeshift jet flame. The force of the blast was monstrously powerful for the brief moment that she unleashed it. More than enough to counter gravity, and send the left side of the bike crashing back onto the ground.

"Good trick, but you both are too slow like this!" Rider spun her nail and chain in her right hand for a moment, before launching it at Shirou. However, before it could stab into his forehead, Saber's right arm grasped it out of mid-air. Both women pulled on the chain, growling at each other.

Both bikes, attached by this same length of chain, spun out to the left, leaving the slowly filling streets up a winding road heading up hill to one of the more affluent neighborhoods.

* * *

Archer set down the set of binoculars he had been holding up to his face. With a nod, he reinforced his legs, and leapt from the top of the skyscraper he had been standing on. He soared in the direction of the Matou Home where the two motorcycles would pass, his mantle furiously flapping behind him.

Brrrng! Brrrng!

The dark skinned man placed his left hand over the left ear, causing the vibrating green gem placed behind the skin flap to stop. He merely moved his jaw, silently forming the words to send the message back to the original gem. 'This is Snake.'

'Um...Rin here. Do you mind telling me why you're using that name again?' The ground rapidly rose up to meet him, but Archer's expression was calm.

'I figure it's a good name, since we're helping Medusa.' Archer smirked, landing lightly on the ground. His intangible body blurred at frightening speeds for his class, a mighty gust erupting in every direction in his wake. Several people looked up, or shivered perceptibly, when his ghostly form sped through them and anything in his path.

'I...just wanted to thank you,' Rin mumbled into their connection. 'I know I haven't been a very good Master, and everything...'

'It's fine,' Archer replied, sharply taking a corner. Running had always been his life. Good thing the skill translated so wonderfully in the afterlife. 'It's just a fun little coincidence that Rider turned out to be Sakura Matou's Servant.'

'Archer, are you sure we should do this?' The hesitant tone in her voice sounded unfamiliar to Archer, and he only had known her for a few days.

'The agreement between between your family and the Matou to not interact with her is dropped in the War. I think it's the best chance to see your sister,' Archer countered.

Back in her comfy home, surrounded by countless priceless magic books and expensive gems brimming with power, Rin Tohsaka gripped her right arm with her left hand, keeping her magic and gaze focused on a bright green gem in her right hand. Her eyes grew moist, remembering her beloved little sister.

Several books from her private library were spread around her, many describing various mythological figures.

The legend of the Gorgon sat in front of her.

"Bring her home. I want to talk to her again," Rin ordered. If Sakura had summoned Rider without a focus, then they had been alike, and if that was true... "I'll get the bombardment magic ready."

'Of course I will.' A single crystaline sword briefly formed in his hand. For a brief moment, the shade of a blade so magnificent, as if it had been cast from the hopes of mankind, materialized over the crystal sword. He gripped it tightly in his hand, before it sank into his intangible body.

Archer felt the prana supplied to him explode outward from him with a terrific burst of mana, enhancing his speed and jumping power, before he leapt high into the skies.

Far below him, two tiny motorcycles were racing through the Matou neighborhood.

* * *

Down below, Saber and Rider were engaged in a furious tug of war, tearing past western houses. At the moment, it appeared that Saber was winning the tug of war, the front wheel of the masked woman's motorcycle raised high in the air.

The wind whipped furiously around them, while Rider wildly moved from side-to-side ahead of them.

"Need to remind you that this is a race!" Rider called out. "Keeping me ahead is just going to ensure that I win~"

"I think I'll take my victory by smashing you into the scenery!" The blonde snarled, wrenching her arm hard to the left, apparently seeking to smash Rider into a parked car they were swiftly approaching.

"I'm sorry I tried to stab your Master. Can you ever forgive me?" Rider playfully yelled, her bike swaying with Saber's tug. However, at the last second she twisted in place, and kicked her legs downwards at an angle. Her healthy skin tone swiftly turned grey, twin cracks resounded through the air. With the use of her sealed levels of monstrous strength, she produced enough force to lift the back tire of her motorcycle into the air.

Rider flew upwards, and Saber was nearly jerked out of her seat, the strength of something she couldn't match wrenching the chain out of her hand.

"Holy shit!" Shirou stared at Rider landing on the rooftop of a house. The woman happily waved over at them, tiles went flying every direction while she cruised along the surface of the house. With a lazy ease, her bike continued to play hopscotch over the streets with the houses as stones.

He didn't even notice that they sped past Shinji Matou's house on his right.

"Master, we're going to need much more maneuverability than we have." A shadow passed over the two of them. Rider's motorcycle leapt over them once again, while they tightly turned to the right down another road. "With her skill and strength, this sidecar is just a hindrance."

Shirou eyed Rider, who was still skipping from rooftop to rooftop on their side. His gaze moved ahead and he saw a few trees with low hanging branches.

"Saber! Throw me up to one of those branches!" He pointed out the trees coming up ahead. "I'll grab onto it, and you can cut the sidecar off!"

"...what?" Saber stared at Shirou. "Are you insane?"

Well, she was always good at being honest, Shirou admitted.

"Kind of, but if we don't do something crazy, she'll just try and stab me when I try to climb onto the seat!" The redhead shook his head in denial.

"But..." Saber muttered.

"...besides, it will be -awesome-." Shirou pumped his fist.

"Fine! I'm sure fools never need fear death." Saber slapped her forehead with her hand, but a tiny grin was on her features. Shirou quickly undid the belt holding him down in the sidecar, and she gripped the back of his t-shirt with her small fist.

"Ready..." Shirou held his arms upwards over his head. "Go!"

Saber roared, prana exploding out of her arms in a brief flash of blue light when she flung Shirou from a sitting position up over ten feet into the air.

Rider's head whipped from Saber back to Shirou with her mouth agape.

Shirou let out a cheer, his arms and hands clamping down around a thick branch. The wood bent low, but held firm while he dangled off of it. Both Master and Servant felt the familiar tingle of the first Command Spell given, and a swiftly increasing pressure began to drag Shirou's dangling legs so they were facing the direct that Saber was still driving.

The blonde kept a desperate grip on the handle of her motorcycle, calling Excalibur to her right hand. The holy blade, wrapped protectively within its concealing sheath of air, descended on the pipes, tubes, and bolts that had been keeping the unwieldy sidecar attached.

The pressure on her back continued to swiftly grow. Shirou's nails began digging furrows in the wood he was clamped onto, and his body rapidly bounced up and down like a dog's tail, while he resisted the painful urges to let go and be launched straight at Saber.

Seeing the sidecar be cleaved off the motorcycle and sent crashing off to the side, he released his grip on cue.

Rider let out a shout of disbelief, and she turned her bike off the roof of a three story house to land back on street level. Shirou's legs smashed into Saber's back, and he slid snugly behind the blonde on their motorcycle. The redhead gave Rider a rude gesture, he and the blonde swiftly burning rubber when they performed a fast U-turn, and raced back down the direction they had gone.

The Gorgon laughed, gunning her engine, and racing after them.

* * *

Archer's sharp eyes focused far below him, his body curled into a tight ball while he used his mantle and several bursts of mana to control his flight. Far below him, Shinji Matou was standing in his backyard, angrily stomping and shaking a fist further up the road, with a pair of binoculars up to his face.

With his target locked in place, the Archer allowed the shade of Excalibur to slither out of his arm. Grasping onto its hilt, the sword's ghostly form vanished, leaving the Jeweled Sword of Zelretch snugly in the hero's hands.

'Access records...'

The crystal blades of Zelretch glimmered with a Kaleidoscope of colors, spraying the night sky with a mulitude of lights while Archer sank deep within his reality marble.

'Searching...'

The sword began to grow hotter in his hand, but Archer ignored the growing pain in his palm. He continued searching for the perfect weapon for the situation.

'Found. World 993. Tarnhelm. The Helmet of Metamorphisis.'

Archer swiftly spun Zelretch in his hand, the shade of a dome-like helmet, cast of bronze, with several bolts along its surface hovered over the crystal sword.

"Downloading," Archer breathed out his mantra. The sword dematerialized in his hand, swiftly drawing upon the mana of several worlds to feed the shade. In moments, the crystal sword was gone, and the helmet was now in the hero's right hand.

It's heavy weight was reassuring, and he lightly plucked it down on his head.

Golden prana sparked out from his circuits into the Noble Phantasm when he activated its functions. In Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelhungen, this simple looking helmet had granted Alberich, Fafner, and Siegfried the ability to transform themselves. Nothing was impossible for this helmet, as the heroes had been able to change their forms multiple times.

Neither Archer nor Rin, had enough od within them to fuel a transformation into a mighty dragon, but they certainly had enough power to transform into a perfect copy of Shinji Matou. The intangible spirit waited a few moments before he phased into reality. He transformed into the blue haired teenager, and he caught himself on a high branch on a tall tree on the property.

"Goddammit! Rider, you fucking bitch! Why are you letting them play you for a fool!" The original Shinji Matou's voice shouted. Archer tensed on his perch hidden behind several leaves and branches. His senses reached out, and fortunately found no evidence that he had triggered the boundary fields alarms. He quickly leapt from the top branch.

The original Shinji glanced up at the tree, but thanks to Tarnhelm's other function of invisibility, he only saw some rustling branches.

Archer silently descended on the teenager like a war hawk.

* * *

Sakura Matou tiredly glanced up at the sound of two motorcycles tearing up the streets outside. Her feverish body twitched beneath her covers, and her body continued to abuse her for denying it what it craved.

'...no. I won't give nii-san the satisfaction.' She shook her head in denial, her plum eyes narrowing. Almost in response, her body convulsed, and broke out in sweat, making the thin, silk camisole that she had been 'gifted' with by her adopted brother stick to her skin even more.

Not that she had more outfits for bed besides things like this. Every time she left her home to buy groceries, all her more tasteful sleep wear were in shreds on the floor of her bedroom.

The lock to her door suddenly turned, and the purple haired teenager quickly sat up, holding her blanket to her chest. The decrepit and decayed form of her grandfather calmly entered without a care to her privacy. Zouken Matou was hunched slightly over a cane, idly glancing at everything in the room with a calm, analytical gaze.

"Hm..." The man's right eye bulged out of its socket slightly, causing Sakura to wince. Her timid eyes followed his gaze, and caught the picture she had pressed up against the side of the mirror. It had a stoic looking Sakura dressed in her archery club uniform, and being hugged at the side by Taiga Emiya and Ayako Mitsuzuri. Her club's advisor and her senpai were both dressed in the typical garb for club. "Why did it bring in something so pointless?"

Sakura closed her eyes, feeling the sting from either the lack of sleep over the last two days, or the situation. She compressed her lips into a thin line, and merely stayed still while the old man hobbled over towards the mirror. He ripped the photo from where it was placed, and tucked it into the voluminous dark robes he wore.

"Shinji is growing more anxious and stupid in his plans for the Holy Grail War. Go sleep with him, then come downstairs for adjustments. I won't have you dulling your reactions or his with this foolish notion of resistance." Zouken glared at her with his bulging eye, something wriggling underneath the thin, grey skin of his cheek. "I tolerated it since we weren't in a war, due to testing how long you could endure for future subjects, but this ends now."

"Yes." Sakura gripped her blanket. Her body began to tremble at the thought of receiving what it craved.

"Good." A ghastly smile crossed her grandfather's lips. He hobbled out of her room without a second glance. "He's in the backyard, throwing out the garbage like I instructed. A fitting place for a pair of animals."

Sakura bowed her head and mechanically threw the covers off her exposed body.

'Resist until the end.' The voice of her uncle, Kariya Matou, filled her mind while she woodenly walked towards the exit to the backyard. An image of her as a young girl clutching onto her beloved uncle's dying body flashed through her mind. He was ravaged from the inside-out by an earlier model of the same worms within her own body.

She would not call out in pleasure this time.

Sakura's bare feet slapped onto the mostly rotten wooden planks beneath her, stiffly maneuvering about with long borne experience. Reaching the staircase, she descended with only her right fingers resting against the wooden banister preventing people from falling.

However, she knew that resting too much of her weight would make the old, worm eaten wood snap. Sakura arrived on the bottom floor and made her way outside from there easily. The bottom floors were actually made for people to live and sleep in.

She passed Zouken and Shinji's rooms, a brief flare of anger flared within her, and she entered the kitchen.

However, Sakura was taken aback when she saw her adopted brother hefting a large cardboard box in the kitchen, and easily carry it towards the open door outside.

"Nii-san?" The purple haired teenager curiously asked despite herself.

Shinji remained silent, gazing back at her. He had an oddly pleasant look to his face instead of his normal two expressions of disgust or mocking superiority. Sakura imagined this was probably the face he showed the outside world whenever he wasn't wallowing in his own failure.

"What are you doing?" Sakura continued, offering him a smile and mentally apologizing to him at the same moment.

'It wasn't his fault he was born without magic circuits.' The thought was hollow, but the teenager once again repeated it, even as her body began to prepare itself for the disgusting act she was being commanded to do. Pity shored up her mental defenses against her treasonous body, while her hind brain and her warped nerves began preparing her to sleep with a decently attractive man.

Shinji smiled at her warmly and nodded his head outside while he held up the cardboard box. Something heavy shifted from within it. A flush crossed Sakura's cheeks at the kind expression, but it faded a bit when she heard a deep groan from within the box.

"W-what was that?" Sakura tensed, stepping back. Shinji merely gestured for her to follow, and he began walking outside. He paused at the door, glancing at her bare feet, and kicked off his indoor slippers as he left. "W-wait!"

The girl quickly slipped on the slippers, and hopped past the divide to the home. Both of the teenagers walked out towards the unattended backyard, where wild growths sprang outwards. Shinji sat the box down amongst the thick bushes. He reached forwards and undid the cardboard top for Sakura's curious gaze.

To see the heavily bruised and swelling face of Shinji Matou, who was curled up into a ball inside the box. In his lap, the leathered worm-skin of the Book of False Attendant simply sat.

"Wha-"

"Come with me if you want to live." The Shinji standing before her grinned roguishly, with a very husky adult's voice came out of the teenager's mouth. He reached to his left ear and pulled out a small green crystal. It began to glow as the man chanted a string of gibbering nonsense.

Sakura liked how the rolling Rs came off the man's tongue, though.

It was apparently a signal. The man that was most definitely not Shinji swept her up in his arms, bridal style, and leapt powerfully away. Both her and the facsimile of her brother went flying over the tall fence around the property while a tiny voice spoke up behind her.

"Darkness beyond twilight

Crimson beyond blood that flows

Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows-"

'Sister!' Sakura gasped, her mind beginning to race. The boundary around the property began to rattle, but she and her rescuer had already cleared the jump, and had landed on the roof of the house across from the Matou home.

"I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand

before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hand-"

"What is she **doing**?" Sakura demanded, gazing at her faux brother in horror. "The treaty..."

"The treaty doesn't exist during the War~" Shinji's form began to melt, parting before the image of a strong - and attractive - looking man in a red coat and wearing a bronze helmet on his head. "You have officially surrendered to the Tohsaka Family. Prepare yourself to be used for our discretion."

Sakura went bright red. She had read about how the Tohsaka Family had abducted an enemy Master of the Edelfelt clan in the Third Grail War. This had been done for half of their family's Magic Crest, or the symbol, and combined magic circuits and knowledge of several generations of magi, to add it to their own.

"I...don't have any attack magic. Just absorbtion spells." The teenager squirmed even worse, her nerves going wild at the thoughts that headed down the path they began to lead her on.

"Even better. You and your future generations won't get tired so easily." The man wolfishly grinned.

"Let the fools who stand in our way be destroyed

by the power you and I possess

DRAGON SLAVE!"

A massive dome of light and heat exploded outwards from the backyard, swiftly consuming it and expanding out for the main building.

"Welcome to the Tohsaka family, Sakura Tohsaka. I'm Archer." With that, the kidnapper and enthusiastic victim leapt off into the night.

* * *

Shirou averted his eyes from the road, staring at an orange glow in the distance. Strange, why do his nerves tingle so...?

Saber and Shirou's motorcycle leapt high into the air and came falling onto a set of train tracks. Before the electricity could surge up through it and into them, Saber ground her heels down. Twin jets of prana erupted out of her feet, giving them enough air time to land safely onto the ground between the tracks.

"Is she still behind us, Master?" Saber called back. The scent of blood began to fade from Shirou's nose, and he turned to glance behind him.

Rider calmly moved off her bike, a furious looking crowd beginning to surround her, covering her from view.

"We...we did it!" The redhead gratefully slumped onto the toned back of his Servant. The woman briefly tensed beneath him, but relaxed a bit, and she shifted so he could rest his chin on her shoulder.

"...thank goodness," Saber breathed.

"This was the longest freaking night of my life!" Shirou groused. "Longest, and most terror filled!"

"Well, you seemingly caused a good amount of it for yourself," Saber chuckled. The steady thumping of the gravel beneath their cycle's wheels was soothing both of their nerves. "Honestly, what was that gambit with the tree?"

"It worked, right?" Shirou snorted. "I'm just glad we didn't empower you further before we left." He suddenly paused. "Oh god, Taiga-neechan is going to kill me when she sees how we left the bike."

Both of them nervously glanced at where only a few smoothly cut tubes remained of the sidecar.

"We'll have to cross that bridge when we pass it," Saber murmured. Up ahead, a steel bridge that connected the two parts of town for shipping purposes stretched across the river. Off to the west, the normal foot and car traffic bridge distantly could be seen.

The night filled with the lonely call of a train.

"Still, I owe you one, Saber. You were pretty freaking awesome," Shirou laughed, slapping her left shoulder happily.

"...you don't owe me your thanks. I just did what we agreed to last night, right?" Saber began shyly, but cleared her throat. A more normal tone of voice came out of her, and she kept staring straight ahead.

"Hahah. No need to be like that, okay? We're buddies now." Shirou smiled into her back.

"I..." Saber's response was suddenly interrupted by a train whistling sharply once again. Much closer than before.

"Oh, we should probably move a few tracks over." The redhead told Saber, turning to glance back. However, his nose once again twinged while the scent of blood swelled up. His eyes widened to almost dominate his face, and his head whipped back.

"RIDER!" Shirou screamed in shocked horror. The masked woman was well lit by the first compartment. She gazed out towards Master and Servant, pulling and pressing controls as the train let out another pitched whistle, and began to gain on them.

"Shirou, don't worry! She might catch up to us, but all we have to worry about is Rider herself!" Saber shouted, trying to calm her Master down. She swept the bike on the furthest lane, as far away from the train as possible. "She can't do nearly as many things to keep up now!"

It almost seemed like Rider had heard those words, an evil grin crossing her lips as she stared straight at a suddenly wary Shirou.

"Wait..." Shirou spoke out, keeping his face locked on Rider's own. "You wouldn't..."

Rider's lush lips puckered out with her now full blown smile.

"Don't tell me you're going to..." Shirou whispered in a haggard voice.

"Shirou, snap out of it!" Saber demanded. By this point it was too late. They had crossed onto the green bridge. There was no escape now.

"Get us the hell across that bridge now, Saber! Floor it!" Shirou demanded. "If we don't, we're going to die!"

"Why?" Saber turned her head to glance over her shoulder back at Rider, and joined the redhead in staring at the insane masked woman in shock.

"MULTI-TRACK DRIFTING!" Shirou howled with a voice that was stuck in between horror, shock, rage, and goddamned awe. At the howling declaration of her intent, Rider threw the last switch, which caused her rapidly wobbling train to suddenly...

Skip tracks.

Sparks of white hot light erupted from the train. Rider was able to keep it from collapsing completely off the tracks through a combination of sheer speed and sudden braking. It skidded across the surfaces of three train tracks, before it stabilized itself on the same track that Shirou and Saber had been coasting along.

Saber didn't need to be told anything, gunning the engine. They shot down the bridge, seeking to escape from being ground under the relentless mountain of steel surging towards them. However, they quickly realized that they couldn't outrun it on the same track.

"Switch!" Shirou felt sweat run down his face, and he kept his gaze locked onto Rider's face. The woman's pleased grin continued to stare back at him.

Saber swiftly threw their bike onto the far right track, but Rider merely responded by throwing her train completely off the tracks after them. The train shrieked and shuddered, but it followed its mistress' command, skipping over to the other side of the tracks.

"We're only halfway across..." Saber growled, "And I don't like our chances at throwing ourselves off the bridge. If I could only swing my blade..."

"Wait! What did you just say?" Shirou leapt on that final sentence like a deranged shark. A deranged shark with a train breathing down its neck.

"In my last joust on this cycle in the previous War, the previous Rider and I came at each from the front..." Shirou put aside the thought of how fucking sweet the mental image of motorcycle jousting was, focusing intently on her words. "I was able to swing my sword at him back then."

"Sit on my lap!" The redhead decided.

"...what? I'm not sure why you have lost leave of your senses, but I am a sword, and not a woman!" Saber shouted, tensing up beneath his hands.

"No! I didn't mean it that way!" Although, now the idea was percolating in the back of Shirou's brain... "I lean forwards and take hold of the bike, while you turn around and face Rider head on!"

"Well...that doesn't sound too bad." The blonde allowed, while another train whistle shrilly went off horrendously close to them.

"You can also wrap your legs around my waist." Saber growled at Shirou's words. "For support! You'll fall off otherwise!" He quickly added.

"Your other ideas have seemingly worked out, despite all odds." The heroine reluctantly allowed. "Alright, place your hands over mine!"

Shirou quickly moved to do so. Saber was surprise with how dry his palms were. She had imagined he'd be panicking more. She slid her hands out beneath his, and he smoothly mimicked how she had been gripping them. The blonde lifted her right foot and Shirou moved his longer limb in place.

The bike slowed down while Shirou showed off a surprisingly impressive amount of flexibility. Saber threw her leg over his red mop of hair. Her Master quickly helped her sling her left leg across his lap, and she squirmed briefly on top of Shirou.

Both Servant and Master gazed into each other's eyes.

"Finish her." Shirou's calm words filled Saber with an unknown feeling, and she firmly nodded. She gripped onto his shoulders to pull her upwards.

Shirou leaned over to the side to look past her stomach, the bike beginning to speed up.

Rider merely smirked when Saber met her gaze head on. She reached up and tugged on a cord above her, causing the train to let out another whistle. The train once more gaining on them.

"We no longer will flee!" Saber shouted over the shrill noise. She cupped her two fists over the invisible sword her name would forever be associated with. The mighty sword Excalibur began to shine, releasing thin and powerful rays of radiant golden light from within the sheath of wind. "We will not surrender!"

The winds blasting out from the holy sword was unleashed, nearly sent them crashing onto the train tracks, but she had confidence in her Master. That confidence was therefore transferred over to Shirou with her charisma ability, and he managed to steady them at the last second.

"Because we will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!" Saber...no, Arturia Pendragon drank deeply of the confidence of her Master. Excalibur was revealed for the first time in this Holy Grail War. Blazing before her like a newly born star, this was the Last Phantasm. An artifact which had been forged by the planet in response to the prayers of mankind.

For glory.

It was the ultimate fantasy.

It was...

"Hyaaaa!" Arturia let out a howl, bringing the sword down in the direction of the train. "EXCALIBUR-!"

A wave of purifying golden light sprang forth from the tip of the Sword of Promised Victory. Saber could make out Rider's eyes widen past the all consuming blast of energy that was soaring towards her, and for a second, the blonde saw a large circle appear within the compartment before the train was cleaved in half. It was utterly vaporized in a pillar of gold light, and night became day as the large fireball raged in the center of the bridge.

Weakness surged through Saber's frame, and she slumped up against Shirou, sliding down his body and back onto his lap. The bridge wildly buckled beneath the two.

"We're running out of support!" Shirou quickly told Saber, the ground violently trembling. Saber merely leaned her right side up against Shirou, and she reached her empty left hand and clasped it onto the same hand on Shirou.

"Just breath. Focus. Between the two of us we can get through." Saber squeezed his hand, and the shocked teenager merely nodded. The motorcycle continued surging just ahead of the expanding dome of energy, and both were thankfully spared when they finally crossed towards the other side.

The motorcycle came to a rumbling, screeching halt. Saber and Shirou slowly got off the bike. The blonde weakly rested up against her Master's side, both of them gazing out towards the center of the bridge, which had been reduced into a massive crater by Excalibur.

Only a thick cloud of smoke lingered in the skies above the bridge.

"Saber, can you swing your sword ag-fuck, too late," Shirou's cursed, a pure white streak of light rushing out of thickest part of the smoke cover, before coming to a stop high above them.

"Well met, Shirou Urobuchi! Saber!" Rider was on the back of a majestic winged steed. She tenderly ran her hand along the flanks of the white horse, and she lightly grasped onto a bridle which the creature was biting down upon.

"Rider! You still seek to battle us?" Saber was still a bit of a spitfire. Despite her draining attack, she still gazed furiously up at the woman in the leather jacket.

"No. You've done plenty for me. Thank you both." Rider grinned down at the two, gesturing back to the town. Now that they weren't in a race for their lives, they could see that a massive conflagration was raging in the western section of town. "I owe you both a favor."

Shirou stepped forwards, but was tugged back towards the motorcycle by Saber, who was furiously shaking her head in denial.

"Hm. Well, just keep it in mind," Rider chuckled, lightly tugging on the leather harness in her hands. She shook her head, sending her hair billowing down her back with graceful ease. "I'm -very- appreciative."

With that final teasing purr, she and her flying horse turned and shot off across the horizon, moving fast enough to turn into a shooting star.

"...do hateful enemies often like to turn to seduction after a fight to the death?" Shirou asked in the silence that remained.

"...in my experience, yes," Saber sighed, thinking about Morgan.

"Hell yes," Shirou hissed out happily. He cheerfully ignored Saber's tired attempt at a glare.

"Any other questions? Or shall we go home?" Saber rhetorically questioned. She banished Excalibur to sit down on their weakly puttering motorcycle.

"Uhm...King Arthur...why do you not have a penis?" Shirou timidly questioned, moving to sit behind Saber.

'It's going to be one of those Wars, isn't it?' Saber closed her eyes, a headache beginning to form.

* * *

_Wise up!  
_

Demiurge

[The Messianic Essence of Faith Made Manifest.]

Owner: Rin Tohsaka

Type: Support

Rank: D

The ability to craft miracles through faith and hearsay. Through investigation into the nature of Noble Phantasms, it is possible to manifest changes within nature itself by harnessing the belief of mankind into achieving a solitary effect. However, the ability is severely limited to areas where the mana of the world itself freely flow, such as the leylines of Fuyuki City. Has the heir of Tohsaka taken her great first step towards catching up to the greats? Who knows.

...

Class - Archer

Master - Rin Tohsaka

True Nam̴e -̨ !̷#̡$͞2̨4͞(͞)̧&͝^%́  
̵S̵e͏x - ́&͏*l̀e  
҉H͠e͢igh͏t/̴We͘i͠ght ́-̧ ́18̢)̶%͡$͘D!̴8̡kg  
Al͘IEne̶nt̴ ͟- ̀Ne̛ut͜ra̷ļ  
̵St̶r̸#%͘^!̵

.͝.͝.  
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̶Th̵is̛ ̡ìs ̛S͢hi͡r̴ou͡ ͡&͞^҉&̛*(҉JH, ̛w͝ho̴ ̧*͡^͞%̨TGP ͞a̷ ̢mi̶ra̛cl̵e. $RGBT-͟s̢m̀it͟h͠.

...Profile corrupted. Attempt to restore from backup?

User [̶́́͟͠Y̷͟͏]͜͟é͡s̨̛̛ / [N]o?


	10. Chapter 10

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 10: Limited Wish

The fourth morning of the Holy Grail War greeted both Kiritsugu Emiya and Ilyasviel von Einzbern nee Emiya in the midst of their favorite activity: shooting and maintaining the various firearms in their workshop.

Ilya sighted down the scope of her Heckler and Koch PSG1, the dark metal of the weapon lightly resting against her shoulder. She adjusted her aim to a dummy on the other end of her father's workshop. Her red eyes narrowed, and she breathed out with a squeeze the trigger. In response, the rifle spat off a burst of fire.

Suddenly, an intense pain stabbed her in the right bicep, causing her to jerk the weapon at the last moment. The teenager silently cursed, and felt the effects of her magic ability take hold to save her botched shot.

The bullet punctured the dummy's neck, which exploded into the air in a burst of wooden shavings. The mannequin's head creaked, and tipped over to the right to completely fall off its shoulders.

The rifle jerked backwards, its stand dragging slightly back against the wooden bench she was leaning against. Ilya came out of her trance, her body relaxing, and her breathing returning to normal.

With the banishment of Ilya's self hypnosis, she released the prana helping her keep her arms enforced with extra strength with a wince.

"You alright, Ilya-chan?" Kiritsugu called out to her. He was in the process of crafting the last specialized bullet using his bones. It helped that they had Avalon with them, or the Magus would have run out of ribs long ago.

"Reinforcement, again," Ilya groused, beginning to disassemble her rifle to clean it. She ignored the twinges of her arms from the aftermath of using her mage craft. "This body of mine sure is inconvenient sometimes," she playfully complained.

Kiritsugu remained quiet. The silver haired girl winced, realizing what she had just said.

"Daddy... you know I didn't mean it that way." Ilya quickly set her rifle down. She moved over and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm grateful for every day that I get to live like a normal family with you and mother." She butted her forehead up against his shoulder.

"Thank you. It's just there's so many limitations on your body. I sometimes feel like a failure for not searching for a better solution," Kiritsugu sighed, setting down his file and the bone in his hands to wrap her in a tight hug.

"Don't worry! I was tougher than gramps expected. He wasn't able to do nearly enough to me to counter what you and mommy did to protect me," Ilya giggled into the chest of her knight in shining armor.

"But you look so young, and..." Kiritsugu mumbled into her hair.

"I think that's a selling point in the future!" Ilya joked, trying to downplay the issues with her own body. "Oniichan can have a young and fresh looking bride in the future!"

"I suppose he might like that," Kiritsugu snorted. "But we still have to prepare now that the war is in full swing. The Einzberns will surely send someone here."

"Then you can just beat them back like you always do, daddy." Ilya stepped back and smiled up at her father with love in her eyes. "Plus Saber and oniichan are here too! We just need to be careful, and we'll send them packing."

Kiritsugu gave her one last squeeze. "...but still, you're not getting out of cleaning your gun."

Ilya thumped her forehead up against her father's shoulder. Damn, busted.

* * *

The sounds of furious combat echoed up from the backyard. Ilya briefly glanced in the direction of the dojo, and slid the heavy, steel doors onto the ground. Ilya dusted her hands off, the doors clanging into place, and she turned to leave the tool shed.

A scream went up over at the dojo, and the silver haired teen glanced over it with a wince. Oh, mom wasn't happy with Shirou, that was for sure.

Ilya walked over to the veranda, a sense of morbid curiosity welling up within. "Hello, Saber," the magus quietly greeted the blonde, who was in the process of gazing approvingly into the dojo from the entrance. Saber nodded every now and again, whenever when Taiga smashed her bokken into her boyfriend's shoulder or arm reprovingly.

"She's good." Saber nodded. "Familiar teaching style, too."

Ilya saw how the blonde's body was straining underneath her clothes, a white shirt and blue jeans, and began to send more mana into her through their connection. Saber smiled at her, the strain of the tether command dissolving from an absolute order to a strongly worded suggestion as her magic resistance increased with the influx of prana.

"What do you mean?" Ilya wondered. She didn't particularly understand the brutal teaching style her father and mother used on Shirou when he'd occasionally come and practice with them.

"Oh, it's the closest thing to simulating near death experiences." Saber's casual words caused a shiver to run up Ilya's spine. Her gaze snapped back to the blonde with shocked dismay. "No wonder he tends to react so well in high danger situations. Most people would just freeze up and be useless."

Another loud crack made Ilya wince.

"I see. This explains why he babbles when I get annoyed with him..." The silver haired teen's mutter made Saber confusedly blink at her.

"Do you not train with them?" Ilya shook her head.

"I'm not really 'built' for that kind of punishment." Saber quirked her head, sending the little tuft of hair on top of her head bouncing charmingly. "I guess oniichan is going to be busy all morning between this and Dad's lessons." Ilya suddenly brightened, snapping her fingers.

"Hey, I know!" Ilya took Saber's hands with hers. "Why don't we go out for a day on the town? I have much better senses than Shirou does, and we might be able to find something out? What do you say?" She grinned at the blonde.

"Hm. It is a good use of our resources." Saber nodded, and agreed. "Let's tell Taiga and Master, and we can be off."

Shirou suddenly went sailing past the two of them. He gazed at the two of them from mid-flight, his face a visage of true horror, before he came to a crashing halt on the yard outside.

"Ugh...mercy." The redhead plead, raising up a shaking hand towards them. Moments afterwards, a fresh looking and cheerful Taiga stepped outside.

"You're a boy! Don't be such a whiner!" Taiga shook a finger at him. "I just showed you how easily an annoyed woman could hit all of your vitals. Under three seconds. If you got her favorite bike trashed." She smiled with all her teeth at Shirou, then turned towards Saber and Ilya.

"What are you both doing?" Taiga moved to Ilya's side, and began to stroke the teenager's silver hair. Her eyes brightened. "Do you want to come spar with me now, Saber?"

Ilya frowned in embarrassment, and tried to bat her mother's hands off her hair, while fidgeting under Shirou's rather incredulous look.

"Can I ask why we want to keep calling you Saber?" Shirou rubbed the back of his head, looking at a bemused Saber. Taiga to roll her eyes with a smirk on her face. "I know that it's like a secret identity and everything, but calling you that seems like it's not doing its job that well."

"The name is perfectly fine at hiding my abilities." Shirou agreeably nodded, and Saber's confusion grew.

"Yeah, but we're still broadcasting it loud and clear to everyone. You're a Saber because you have a sword. It just seems weird to tell everyone what you can do!"

"Even daddy followed that rule. It seems strange, considering every other rule he broke," Ilya mumbled, looking a bit distant.

The King of the Britons sighed and crossed her arms, looking ticked off at the thought of what her former Master had done. For some reason, there was a pout included.

"Regardless-" Ilya's lip twitched, and she resisted the urge to throw her arms around the petite girl, and never let go. "-We did lose an opportunity with Rider, but I think we can try and deceive other enemies. We just need to pick a different name."

"Well...I think Lancer is already taken." Shirou replied. He had been forced to create a mental listing for people who tried to stab him to death with his introduction to the blue haired man. Rider was the next person on that list. "What else is left?"

"Archer, Caster, Berserker, Assassin." The words came up from Ilya's lips before she could think about them. She missed the look of curiosity that came across Shirou and Taiga's faces.

"Those choices are rather distasteful..." Saber winced at the choices left. She gazed at Shirou helplessly. "I'd really like to not have to hide what I am. I trained hard and bled for what I know..."

"I understand, Saber." Taiga looked at Ilya and Shirou seriously. "She has her pride as a swordswoman. Trying to cover that up is a grave insult."

Saber looked relieved and thankful for Taiga's words.

"It was just a thought, anyway," Shirou sighed, but acquiesced with a nod. Saber brightened.

"Now, let's get back to the reason we were here. I need to let you two know that we want to head out to Matou-kun's neighborhood," Ilya finished her proclamation with a squeak, Taiga's arms descending from her head to her neck.

"What? Why do you want to go there?" Taiga shook Ilya.

"Woah! What the hell, guys?" Shirou stared at Saber and Ilya in shock. "Didn't you two pay attention to what Emiya-san said? Shinji is definitely an enemy Master. The circumstances fit too perfect." He ticked off two fingers. "I personally get someone after my life, and his house goes up in a perfect flame sized to take only it down."

"Yes, but that just makes it even more important that we confirm that the explosion took his life, Master," Saber replied. "Just like this home, theirs has to have a Workshop. If it was shielded well enough..."

"Furthermore, Sakura-chan is still unaccounted for as well!" Ilya squirmed out of her mother's hold. "Maybe she managed to get down to the Workshop if it's still standing, at least." She ticked off a finger. "Heck, maybe we can convince her to help us out," She mused hopefully.

Shirou and Taiga both exchanged grimacing looks.

"Dad gave me permission to go on ahead with Saber at full power." Ilya crossed her arms, adding the last bit of information.

"I swear that I'll do everything to protect your daughter, Taiga." Saber normally bright eyes sharpened, and she brought her full force of will to show her sincerity.

Taiga and Shirou glanced at each other helplessly for a moment, but Taiga released Ilya. "Alright. I understand." The older woman looked into her daughter's eyes.

Ilya waved at Shirou and Taiga. She began to head out towards the front. "We'll be heading out for a while then! Try not to make mom sad again, Shirou!"

Taiga reached over and grinned at Shirou. She ruffled his hair. "H-hey, quit it!"

Saber smirked, catching the pleased smile on his face.

Taiga looked at Saber while in the middle of slapping his hands' attempts at defending himself away, "My Shirou-kun is a good boy. He'll make sure not to make anyone sad under my watch."

Saber laughed, and quickly went to join Ilya when Shirou began to whine. The blonde saw Ilya intently gazing at her once she joined her by the door. "Is there something wrong?"

"Uhm...I just wanted to apologize about the name bit. Sorry about not considering your feelings." Ilya ducked her head, hands roughly shoved into the pockets of her sweater jacket.

"Oh." Saber shook her head. "It's fine. It made tactical sense, but..."

"You deserve your pride for fighting and dying for your land," Ilya whispered, glancing down at the ground and grinding the toe of one of her shoes into the floor. "What right does anyone have to strip your history from you?" She glanced up at Saber with her ruby eyes.

Saber took a step back. A bizarre sense of guilt filled the blonde as she closed her eyes.

"...right. I earned my history, didn't I?" The king mumbled, and she quickly stepped past Ilya's dark red eyes.

* * *

Sakura slowly woke, her eyes opening. She took in her surrounding in a daze, feeling the shifting of the bronze cap on top of her head. Her hands came up to remove them, but Medusa suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Good morning, Master." Medusa kept her hands firmly on the helmet. "Archer wanted you to keep this helmet on, remember?"

"I...that was real?" Sakura mumbled in shock, fingers twitching when she gazed at the different comforter she was under. She quickly threw it aside to gaze at the yellow and black cat themed pajamas Rin had given her last night to replace the silk camisole. She uncomfortably shifted when they pulled tight across her hips and chest once again.

But it was good at the same time.

The warm guest room, made out of finely treated brown wood, vanished before her gaze, tears leaking from of her eyes. Medusa's arms quickly moved to wrap around Sakura's shoulder. Sakura desperately clung onto the Gorgon, silently shaking in place.

"Good mor-eh?" Sakura quickly began to blink her tears away when Rin entered the room. The older girl was dressed sloppily in a long, button shirt and a pair of sweat pants. Her dark hair looked distinctly greasy, and there were large bags underneath her eyes. "S-sakura, are you alright?" The innocent question unfortunately was the last thing to set her off.

"R-rider, can you go tell Archer to put away our breakfast for now?" Rin awkwardly told the taller woman while wincing at Sakura's sobs. Seeing her nod, the oldest Tohsaka went to sit next to her sister. The tall woman quickly dematerialized.

Rin waited until her presence could no longer be felt, and she fully settled down beside her younger sister. Her arms twitched, and a look of confusion crossed her features.

Rin suddenly leaned up against Sakura, while the younger girl pulled her knees closer to her chest. The suddenness of the action caused the younger girl to hiccup, and gaze over at her older sister with wet eyes.

"I... you kept your ribbons, I noticed," Rin lamely started. Sakura desperately leaned up against her sister's lean form. "I'm sorry I had to put you here. I didn't even change your bed out for a bigger size or anything..." She slapped her hand over her mouth.

Sakura's rapid, hitching breath began to even out. "Uncle Kariya told me to cherish them because they came from my sister..."

"T-that's good. D-does he live away from town?" Rin nervously began to run her fingers over the comforter. She had only sensed two people besides Sakura at the home, so...

"No." Sakura's eyes dimmed significantly. "He died fighting our father in the Fourth War."

Rin bit her lip, and looked away shamefacedly. 'So father did something else to ruin things for you.'

Seeing the effect her words had on Rin, Sakura felt a brief burst of satisfaction. However, it was buried under several layers of guilt. She couldn't quite vocalize the words to make up for the hurt she had inflicted.

Several minutes of awkward silence passed between the two. Only the shared noise of their mingling breaths could be heard.

"Father...wanted us to be rivals," Rin finally spoke up at last. She sounded almost desperate. "One of us was to defeat the other, and go on to be the greatest."

Sakura merely let out a noise of acknowledgment.

"...do you hate me?" Rin wondered. A minute of silence answered that question.

"No... I want to be like you." Sakura reached up for the pink ribbon in her hair that Rin had gifted to her before she was sent away from home to the Matou. "To proudly call myself a Tohsaka again, but I don't think I can now."

Sakura's hand was suddenly grasped by Rin. 'It's so warm...' She marveled, feeling the gentle heat in that hand.

"You've changed, it's true," Rin bluntly agreed, and looked at her hair, which had been changed from black to purple over the years she was gone. "But that doesn't mean anything. You always are, and will be, my sister."

"But you don't know what I've done until now, and..." Sakura was hushed by Rin's index finger in front of her lips.

"We're Magi. We walk a path with death. I won't judge you for things you had no control over." Rin opened her mouth to say more, but merely shook her head. "Just keep wearing Tarnhelm for now. No one can find you between its magic, the leyline beneath the mansion, and the barrier around us. Archer guaranteed it, and I confirmed it."

"But what about the War?" Sakura mumbled.

"Screw the War! The Tohsaka family will be pulling back until we get this settled." Rin smirked. She wiggled her fingers before Sakura, making her smile at the devilish look crossing her older sister's face. "Then we'll completely steamroll them!"

* * *

"That's a bad habit to get into, Medusa." Medusa spun to face Archer's soft voice. The man beckoned her to follow, and the purple haired woman slunk away from the door to Sakura's room, and into the living room. "Still, you're a little sister. It must be an innate skill in all of you."

Medusa chuckled. "Cute. I didn't think you had a sister, Perseus."

Archer held a finger up and wagged it. "Bzzt. Sorry, you guessed wrong." He smirked. "I'm not Perseus. I'm not quite of a sham enough to start throwing on other hero's names."

The Gorgon blinked in surprise. "Then...what?"

"You wanted to know more about your Master, right?" Archer asked. He sighed a bit sadly. "Sakura-chan was always such a private girl when we went to school together."

"Wait, how do you...no," Medusa gasped at the man in horrified shock. "You're from this era? Nonsense!"

"Looking what's happened to me, I can't believe it myself." Archer grinned, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "So, do you want to know?"

"How can I believe you?" Medusa frowned.

"Hm...well, I could tell you who I am," Archer hummed. "Since I'm suddenly on top of the world."

"You've lied to me twice!" Medusa accused.

"So you think it should have been someone else?" The white haired man asked. "Not my fault you misunderstood. I do know you, and I know what's going on. Even if you believe it or not."

"I'm positively walking on air at the moment," Medusa growled, wondering why she felt an itch coming from the Grail connection.

"But you never thought you could feel so free." Archer resisted the urge to begin laughing at the growing look on Medusa's face.

"Better to flying away on a wing and a prayer, huh?" Medusa sighed, rubbing her head. "So who are you, then?"

"Who could it be? Believe it or not, it's just me." Archer quickly dashed away. Medusa let out a shout at being teased, and chased after him.

* * *

"Hey Saber, what do you all do for fun?" Ilya wondered, the pair getting off the bus. They weren't anywhere near the Matou neighborhood at the moment. Thanks to the fire last night, public transportation had been rerouted heavily.

'Would have been useful having a working motorcycle around now.' Ilya thought in annoyance. She only hoped that the sidecar landed near the fire. If anyone connected its license plate to them, a lot of people were going to have to lose some brain cells when daddy and she got through hypnotizing the lot of them.

"Well, there used to be these people we called dwarfs, and my men used to..." Saber began.

"What?" Ilya snapped to attention at that.

"N-nothing." The blonde quickly got the impression she best shut up. "We sang and drank."

"Sang and drank?" Ilya questioned.

"Or they'd just drop the singing all together, and tell all manner of ribald story," Saber sighed fondly, remembering happier times.

Ilya was faintly disturbed by the soft chuckles coming from Saber for the next minute. Somehow...she got the impression she should be offended as a woman. The silver haired girl was still vaguely disturbed at the whole concept of King Arthur being a woman on an intellectual level.

Even if emotionally she was highly pleased with the idea. "Did you ever get to tell any?" Ilya grinned at Saber. "Put any of those nancyboy knights in their place?"

"No." Saber looked chagrined. "I looked on while this happened."

"Oh, how come?" Ilya quirked her head.

"It really wasn't my place," Saber spoke with a note of finality.

"...oh." Ilya awkwardly concluded.

"My apologies. I ruined the good mood." Saber grimaced, but Ilya merely held up a hand.

"It's fine. Hey, maybe we can do the ribaldry another time, huh?" The teenager grinned at Saber. "Mom usually buys really good stuff, and we can all drink and sing here just as easily as they could back then!" She conspiratorially nudged the blonde in the side. "Oniichan gets really good between his five and six. His voice gets all husky and awesome."

Saber offered her a polite smile. "But is that the best way to use our time?"

"Oh, c'mon, Saber. It's something when we have a blatant lead like this, but during the days we have to do something besides train. We'll get worn out completely at this pace." Ilya crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I'll...think about it." Saber allowed.

Ilya let out a whoop as she pumped her fist. "This is going to be so awesome, you'll see!" The silver haired girl grabbed onto the blonde's hand, and quickly pulled her away now that she was filled with new energy.

* * *

"Alright, Shirou-kun, that's enough for now." Kiritsugu allowed Shirou to release the od flowing through his body. The redhead gratefully did so, setting the tome he was reading down on the table in front of him.

"It's weird. I tried looking at the Archer class profile, and my eyes started hurting," Shirou complained. "It even asked me if I wanted to reboot it."

"Strange. That book should never give a Master problems when they're looking over the Servant profiles in the war." Kiritsugu frowned. "Yet it does present the information based on the level of experience a Magus has with the Servants in the war."

"Can we try later?" Shirou asked, and Kiritsugu nodded. Both men were within Emiya's Workshop at the moment, going over more information that the redhead would need for the coming war.

"That's fine. I do need to at least give you a bit of explanation on familiars now, though." Kiritsugu offered the teenager a seat. Shirou pulled up the bench and sat down to gaze up at the older man. "Basically a familiar acts like the eyes and ears for a Magus..."

...

Ilya and Saber both came across an older woman in a police uniform. Behind her, and a sea of caution tape, were the burnt down remains of the Matou home. It seemed oddly abandoned at the moment, but most likely the investigation had been done last night. The grey haired woman was currently shaking her head at the two chidingly while she held up a hand. She made shooing gestures at both younger women.

Ilya and Saber shared a look.

...

"There's a few different ways to create a familiar," Kiritsugu continued, having enraptured Shirou's interest by means of waving a sharpened piece of bone around in front of him negligently. "The traditional way to make one, though?" He tapped the bone against the table he was standing besides. "Just put a piece of the magus' body into the body of a dead creature."

...

Saber gave a faintly guilty looking glance at the glassy eyed policewoman who continued to stand in front of the wide swath of police tape around the burned down Matou home. It appeared there were still a few investigators shifting about the rubble.

...

"Of course, to make a familiar, you have to give up some part of your body that contains a good amount of your magic circuits to do that." Kiritsugu interrupted Shirou's raised hand. "You now have a familiar that can perform magecraft. You can do this to anything, so I want you to always try and keep your wits about you, alright?"

...

Ilya tugged on Saber's arm, and pointed over to where three men were descending. The remains of a staircase was in front of them, blocking the investigators chance to see the two females. Both Ilya and Saber nodded, and started heading after them.

...

"So, you could even do it to people?" Shirou wondered.

"Oh yes. Lliving or dead, it doesn't matter." Kiritsugu nodded. "It's an even better source for a familiar. You can use the soul of the dead human to craft a familiar with abilities to think for themselves."

"You said living people can be turned into familiars too, right?" The redhead looked a bit grossed out.

…

Ilya and Saber descended into a dank looking pit. Along the high walls there were several niches carved directly into the walls which were empty. The temperature immediately went down several degrees, and an awful stench filled their nostrils. Blood, pus, and water was slowly flowing down a broken section in the center of the room.

The smell of sewage was thick in the air.

Both females tensed, a shadow looming over the two.

…

"Well, it might be better to say that a living person having a piece of a magus set inside them becomes more of a ...magical monster. It's the reverse of taking a soul and placing it inside a dead creature, really. While a soul grants a creature humanity, the conflict between the souls turn a human into well..."

…

Another of the inspectors charged down the stairs towards the two women. Its eyes were simply gone, replaced with two worm like creatures with snapping teeth. The skin on its face was already mostly rotten, and coming off in clumps.

It opened its mouth, revealing fanged, bloody teeth, and it threw itself at them.

Saber wrapped an arm around Ilya's side. She leapt all the way down to the bottom. Landing with a titantic splash, several more water logged figures were rising from the thigh deep water, each in worse conditions of decay.

From the shadows beneath the staircase, a mostly flayed apart figure with shiny, pearl like skin staggered towards them. A few traces of blue hair could be found poking out of its scalp, which was shiny with pus from the worms slithering across its body. Each of its steps was heavy, and sack like collections of transparent muscles bounced and rippled across its body.

It paused, stared at them with white eyes, and raised a skeletal right arm.

"Iiiiiiillllyyyaaa!" It shrieked, rushing the two women with the rest of the hoard.

…

"So...you could basically flood everyone out with these monsters, then!" Shirou stared at Kiritsugu in horror.

Kiritsugu laughed. "It's not that easy, remember? A Magus would have to use up their magic circuits to make familiars. There's nothing that has enough magic circuits to be able to attack the whole city. You'd turn your body into magic circuits and still run out. You'd need to be able to like self perpetuate your body or something to do that, and heretic magi like those are put away before they get that close."

"So...no zombie apocalypse," Shirou sighed in relief.


	11. Chapter 11

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 11: Alter Self

Oh fuck. It was the zombie apocalypse. A zombie apocalypse with Shinji at the head of it.

"Iiiilyaa!" The corpse that was formerly Ilya's ex-boyfriend roared, throwing itself at Saber. The blonde Servant would not abide a threat to her proxy Master. Despite the freakishness of its body, or the horror of what exactly he had done to himself.

Saber swung horizontally to gut Shinji, the thigh-high water parting before her.

The former Master howled, gripping at its falling guts. Several of the former humans around them hissed angrily, and a thick, faint red goo poured out of the bulbous sack that was his stomach. Several writhing, tiny worms wiggled out into the tide, and into the water, spreading outwards.

The thigh-high water was slowing Ilya enough that what might have been a clean dodge from one of the creatures swarming her, instead got her a disgusting layer of film on her arm.

Saber flashed into the dead man's side, and ran it clean through.

Shinji took that opportunity to try and complete its attack on Ilya, but Saber shouted, and she wrenched upwards, dragging the impaled figure into the air. Dirty water and blood rained down on her, but she completed the motion, and brought the dead man down on Shinji like a hammer.

Saber wrapped an arm around Ilya, and leapt up towards one of the man sized holes carved in the wall. Water exploded in every direction from their leap.

Ilya hissed, the skin on her arm boiling. The film ate through her clothing like acid, but left the skin beneath it only slightly red.

Oh fuck. Suddenly the disturbingly bulb-like, ridge-headed worms clicked into place.

Shinji had seen **those** VHS tapes too.

"Clench, Saber! Clench with all your might!" Ilya cursed her younger self briefly for having been somewhat-maybe interested in a particular series of VHS tapes of an old anime starring ninja girls. The silver haired girl let out another, less-than-dignified scream when the two soaring women were met in mid-air by a howling man.

Dressed in a ragged police uniform, this victim turned monster had leapt at them from the carved out niche in the workshop's walls. The man, just like all the other victims, had two of the screeching horrors infesting his head.

As the man descended, they launched themselves outwards at the sight of the two women. One missed all together, and was smashed into paste for its troubles when it smacked into a wall. The other, however, successfully touched Saber's armored boot.

Saber began to drop out of the sky, as if they had gained a hundred pounds at the moment the worm made contact.

"Aaah!" Ilya yelled. Saber hauled back with her left arm, and flung the silver haired girl straight into the niche. The teenager landed on her hands and knees in thick, putrid muck that coated the interior of the chamber, while Saber crashed into the waters below with a titanic splash.

The silver haired girl gagged, the smell of rot filling her lungs, and she shot up to her feet.

Ilya made a noble effort to ignore rotten meat dripping down onto her head from the top of the niche. She clenched onto the sides of the moist walls, and leaned forward to gaze down. She regretted her action at the sight of what was going on.

The knight was down to her chest in a pool of tiny squirming creatures. Where Ilya would be shrieking in mortal terror, Saber was trying to rise. Her prana burst from her body like a cloak, and it incinerated anything that attempted so much as brush up against her.

Yet despite Saber's defenses and her fanciful sword-work - cleaving through the humans attacking her like a hot knife through butter - they were still driving her back towards one of the flooded niches. On a close inspection, she was cleaving through the bodies, but the larger worms were swirling around her limbs and body from below.

The second her eyes locked on one of the worms, she felt an irresistible pull at the prana that had been flowing into her connection with Saber. The creature that had disrupted the flow of energy glowed purple, and like a signal, more and more of the worms swam up from the depths in the center

Saber immediately began to try and burn them off like the lesser worms with her cloak of prana, but it played horribly against both Ilya and Saber. The cloak was devoured by the multitude of beasts, which began to whip up a bubbling froth around the knight.

"Clench, you fool! Clench!" Ilya yelled down.

"What are you talking about?" Saber growled. Her blade swung around, stabbing into the writhing pool around her.

"Buy me some time to concentrate!" Ilya cried, giving up on trying to teach the blonde femininity before the fucking worms did. Reinforcement surged through her frail body, and Ilya gained a new chance to help her friend.

Ilya reached to the carved niche above her own, and grimaced when she dug her nails and fingers into the soft, gooey, and rotten meat contained above. She mentally shuddered, trying not to think about what she was grasping, and she reached into the pocket of her hood to draw out a single shotgun.

The gun had been designed to look like a Thompson Center Contender in her zeal to try and learn everything she could from her father. Since Ilya's friend couldn't fight back against that mess with the worms disturbing her prana, it'd be up to her to try and take it down from here.

Runes lit up along the sides, the barrel of the gun crackling. However, she saw a blur of motion from below when the deformed body of Shinji shot upwards

"Biiiitttccch!" The beast with Shinji's deformed, drooling face shot straight at her. Screeching worms erupted out of his arms, snapping at her direction hungrily while they stretched and bobbed obscenely out of his body.

"Molestation is not a free action!" Ilya taunted, gritting her teeth. She flooded her right arm with prana, digging her fingers deeper into the filth and muck above her. With a massive effort, Ilya wrenched her entire body up and over into the niche above her.

The silver haired girl let out a low hiss. She audibly heard something tear in her arm when her Reinforcement ran out. One of Shinji's flailing arms just brushed along the back of her leg, and though he missed, he left a burning sensation on her skin as he flew into the small niche below her.

"Ilya!" Saber shouted up in horror. A plume of dust and crumbling rocks exploded of the alcove Shinji had plowed into. Presumably caving it in, as she felt the filth she was lying on top of shift worryingly.

However, the second that Saber looked away from her battle up towards the girl, her guard was briefly open. One of the decapitated figures exploded out of the water. Gore and blood exploded in a truly disgusting fashion when a new worm creature erupted out of the opening thoughtfully provided by Saber's blade before.

"SKREE!" An elastic worm with a distinctive ribbed maw exploded straight at Saber's gaping face. The Heroic Spirit swung back to cleave it, but Ilya was there with support.

A silver bullet zipped clean through from one end of the creatures head to the other, and the worm exploded in a shower of gore and blood. The force behind the shot continued to propel it towards the distant, pitch black side of the workshop.

"No! That's the opposite of clenching!" Ilya shoved her spent gun into her hoodie's pocket. The fingers on her left hand twitched in the direction of the fired shot.

A spark of silver light erupted out in the direction Ilya had fired her shot. Saber gathered what remained of the prana feeding her from Ilya, and she leapt high.

"Two wings outstretched..." Ilya stretched out her left arm to direct it towards her round.

Several elongated, gray and purple worms trailed off Saber's legs, refusing to release the lower part of Saber's armored dress and greaves, which were missing large chunks at this point. They whipped about, trying to rip past her defenses.

"...their love combined!" The silver light streaked past Saber, leaving an afterimage in its wake. The dazzling bolt of silver wildly danced, and swept around Saber's legs at impossible angles and speeds.

A hawk's triumphant shriek resounded.

The worms were shredded in the blink of an eye, and Saber's dress wildly whipped about her legs in their passing. Saber tucked her body, and twisted, changing her landing point slightly. Once Saber sank down to her thighs in the middle of the flooded workshop, she gazed up towards Ilya.

Ilya was as white in the face as her hair normally was in other conditions. She harshly gasped and panted for air. Chunks of brownish red substances were in her long hair, and she had several stains and tears along her clothing, but she had a proud smile on her face. She gazed down into Saber's eyes from above.

Next to her was a flying bird composed of streams of prana which each lead to Ilya's fingers. With a twitch of her fingers, the hawk flapped its wings, showing off the glowing silver bullet which had taken down the worm for Saber.

"Let's tear this freaking place down, Saber." The knight nodded, feeling her prana flow unimpeded to her from her connection with Ilya once more.

* * *

"Ugh. It's really a lot to take in." Shirou shook his head, taking a break with Kiritsugu. In Shirou's hands, he nursed a carton of orange juice. He sat on one of the cleared off tables of the older man's workshop.

Kiritsugu merely took another sip of his own juice in response from where he was standing a few feet away. Behind him a blackboard had several items listed and underlined. At the top, in neat writing, was the word factions.

"I suppose it is. I'm sorry I have to keep you essentially locked down here while I go over this," Kiritsugu mused. Behind him, most of his body covered up the words Magic Association.

Shirou took a chug of his juice, and eyed the board.

- Magic

- Suspicious alchemists

- The Church is fooling around again

- It's a Demon Hunter conspiracy

"So I have to pick one, huh?" Shirou wondered with a smirk.

"Essentially. Ilya helped with setting things up today...Is there something funny?" Kiritsugu eyed the board behind him.

"Well, now that I've had my knowledge base completely raped, can we go back to practicing magic?" Shirou eagerly wondered.

"Yes. Let's go over your practical skills now," Kiritsugu began, "I'll show you a spell called Reinforcement."

"Wait...isn't that a higher end skill?" Shirou wondered, remembering Ilya bitching about it to him lately.

"It's a practical skill for War time," Kiritsugu countered. He had a tiny smile on his face of happiness. "You have a rare advantage here. Avalon will heal anything you tear up or break while experimenting."

Shirou broke out in cold sweat.

"Have you come up with your trigger phrase to activate your magic circuits?" Kiritsugu questioned.

"Well, I think I did," Shirou mumbled, remembering what Saber had told him about how magi were suicidal. "How much will it hurt to trigger the magic circuits on my own?"

"That varies from person to person," Kiritsugu replied. "It's all mental. I used to feel like I had blown out the side of my head with a pistol when I used to invoke my magic."

Shirou gulped. "If you said it was mental, does that mean you can learn to handle it?"

"Yes, otherwise the Enforcers of the Magic Association and people like myself would never be able to do our jobs." Kiritsugu nodded. He set down his empty carton of juice on the chalk holder on the blackboard, and drew out a small box of pills. "Now then, go ahead and take one of these. Make sure you keep your trigger phrase in mind when you take it."

Shirou took the box of pills and then looked at Kiritsugu. "What do these do?"

"They'll help you reach the proper mindset. We really don't have time to go through this formally, so I'll use these as a shortcut for you," Kiritsugu merely replied.

Shirou and Kiritsugu merely shared a look between the two.

Shirou considered what the best way to convey his disbelief in this turn of events. Surely, there was a universal phrase that would span across the gulf of generations separating the two. Some combination of words and actions that would act like a Rosetta stone between him and Kiritsugu.

'Ah, I know.' The redhead realized.

"Crack is whack, Emiya-san." Shirou held the box of pills away from himself.

"Shut up and take the pills, Shirou-kun," Kiritsugu sighed.

* * *

There was an ex-boyfriend-turned-zombie-jackass in the workshop. Ilya couldn't see him, but had expected deviancy to this degree now for years. Mom's warnings to her were not listened to, and now it was too late.

Far too late.

"Why'd I lend La Blue Girl to him again?" Ilya moaned, following closely behind Saber. The knight had agreed with her about tearing the workshop down before more innocents got involved, but was practically treating her like a porcelain doll.

"What's that?" Saber called back again. She followed the faint light emitted by her alchemical strings. The light emitted from them were thin, but Saber was able to take even that little bit, and work with it, using her instincts.

"It's ...just my right arm," Ilya dismissed, and she twitched her fingers - allowing the strings of her magecraft to feel about deeper. Both females were currently sloughing through ankle deep filth past the entrance of the niche Ilya had been standing on when Shinji had attacked her.

The walls and ceiling of the niche had mostly collapsed after he had smashed into it, but Ilya had felt a very faint trail of her mana leading deeper into the wall from the collapsed section. The blonde had quickly gone to work removing the rocks from their path.

"Ilya, can you feel that?' Saber paused. She held up a hand for the other girl.

"No..." Ilya blinked, and concentrated. She slowly shook her head in denial. "No, I don't. What is it?"

"It's the sound of rushing water," Saber grimly spoke up.

Ilya carefully avoided jostling her right arm to avoid setting off a new round of pain, and tried to keep up with Saber. The knight began moving ahead with a renewed sense of purpose, but that wouldn't mean anything if they stepped into a trap.

The prana strings that her mother favored continued to flow ahead of the two, and a few minutes went by in relative quiet. Eventually the younger of the two females began to hear the sound of a great amount of water being moved around.

Ilya quickly realized what the stench had originally been.

"They had an exit through the sewers, Saber!" The silver haired girl shrieked.

The blonde twirled around to gaze at her. "He's going to go after Master at this point, won't he?"

It was futile, but Ilya cut off the flow of her prana and allowed the strings to dissolve so she could reach into her pocket, and draw out her cellphone. The teenager grimaced at the lack of signal, but pressed on.

"Worse. His dad. Shinji will think that Shirou is at home, and today is his Urobuchi-san's day off." Ilya gently pushed at Saber with her left hand to get her to start moving again. "We have to get back up top so I can try and call him."

Saber grimaced, and Ilya summoned up her strings once again.

"Follow me!" Saber turned, and quickly began to set a faster pace towards the sewer lines ahead of them.

* * *

In the span of a night Shinji Matou had lost it all. One second he had been enjoying his evening. Watching his Servant playing cat and mouse with Shirou Urobuchi and that foreign whore of his. The next he had been attacked.

By himself.

However, that had to be an illusion. The other him was too strong for Shinji's appearance, and had completely manhandled him. His Book of False Attendant had been lost somewhere in the brief struggle, and he had been stuffed inside a box.

Shinji quivered in rage, and rested his deformed and bulbous body up against a drainage pipe. The stench of waste rushing out with the water pouring in front of him like a waterfall caused him to grip his fist.

The soft, transparent flesh around his second and fourth knuckle burst. Small, quivering worms erupted out of his body with a pinkish gel. Shinji began to laugh crazily while they left his body, and wiggled into the stream of water flowing away from him.

The next moment he was fully aware of himself...

...Shinji Matou had become a freak.

"...haHahAHAHAahaaah!" Shinji began to wildly cackle, and he saw the gel over his charred bones reform. The presence of the worms that had wiggled within him pulsed sympathetically with the ones that remained in the main workshop, and the ones floating along the pipes down below.

The Matou teenager had enough knowledge of magecraft to know he had become one with his grandfather's familiars for some reason beyond him, but simply acknowledging it was making what remained of his mind fray more.

"Woooormm!" Shinji reached up, and pulled off another chunk of his hair from his scalp, releasing wiggling Crest Worms down the back of his neck. His shrieks echoed around the walls, and his hair loosely flowed from his left hand down to the stream of sewage to get swept away.

Shinji's left ear twitched. He faintly heard metal scrapping against stone more than a hundred feet away. The teenager hissed, and he looked up at the drainage pipe above him. Reaching up, he hefted himself upwards, when he felt one of his larger worm bodies get crushed after attempting to attack the foreign whore with Ilya.

The teenager slithered deep into the pipe, letting the dirty water swallow him up above his head, while he turned to move deeper within. Opening his eyes, he found the same kind of film that his body was generating had covered his eyes, protecting and allowing his eyes to see underneath the water.

At the same time he did that, he commanded the worms he had left behind to observe.

Moments later he observed Ilya and the person...no, Servant called Saber rush past his pipe, looking around furiously and started rushing down the tunnel. The moment he laid eyes on Ilya again, he got greedy though. The feel of her prana coursing through his body was addicting.

One of his worm familiars rushed through the sewage and latched onto her leg. Shinji jerked rapturously in bless within his pipe as prana flowed ever so briefly from her to him via his familiar for a few moments.

Shinji opened his mouth in a soundless scream when a glowing blue string of prana sheared through his familiar. Unfortunately, his scream had been muffled by the onrush of rancid water pouring into his mouth.

A grimace of disgust covered his face and made a vow.

He would get even with them. He now had the power of the Crest Worms with him. He had the knowledge as well.

Using what he knew about the system used for Masters, Shinji began to spread his familiars out from his body while he slithered up against the stream. Shirou and Ilya were using a ritual to control the same Servant.

Shirou had no access to magic, so Ilya's prana would be flowing through the ritual to him to a lesser degree. Now that his worm familiars had tasted her prana, he could send them out and search for it throughout the city's water system.

It didn't matter how many bodies he had to consume to generate the number of familiars needed to find Shirou.

And with that, Shinji's new instincts surged within him. They demanded he find someplace warm and moist to lurk. To stab deep within soft flesh and consume it to generate more mass for himself. His own proclivities began to mix, and his mind began to fray at the seams again.

Consume and shatter the spinal column of men before eating them alive. Overwhelm women's nerves, and burrow within them to turn them into mindless puppets.

Like Sakura.

The worms burrowing in his organs began to thrash wildly at the thought of Shinji's adopted sister.

'Aaah. I want to find her,' Shinji moaned, not caring about the taste of the water he was swimming through now. He wanted to find her.

'**Findherfindherfindherfindher.**'

Shinji's body began to rebel from his control the longer he mused about her, and it frightened the teenager. He threw what remained of his mind to try and bring control back to himself. However, the only thing he could use...the only thought that burned brightly enough to return control was just as bad in its own way.

Hate boiled within him when he thought about Ilyasviel.

Shinji knew for a fact she was a magus, and she knew he was one as well. With her, he thought he had found an equal in some respects. He was a knowledgeable man from a dead Magus lineage and she was the daughter of the Magus Killer, Kiritsugu Emiya.

Unlike Rin Tohsaka, she was someone that was pretty much a social pariah in the eyes of the Mage's Association. Hell, she was so ignorant as to the way things were, she even called them the Magic Association.

If Ilya wished to get any sort of relationship at all it would have to be him, regardless of his lack of Magic Circuits. So he had played around. They had gone on a few dates while he had his many flings, and she didn't blink an eye.

Except she had that damnable Urobuchi always lingering around her.

Shinji's familiars began to slide out of his body as they slithered off the side pipes.

'I'm going to kill you, Urobuchi,' Shinji swore. 'Then I'll make Ilya and Sakura mine again.'

'**Findherfindherfindherfindher.**'

* * *

Zouken Matou smiled, feeling the colony of tracking crest worms, and his foolish grandson move further into the sewer system.

The old magus only had half his body from his ribcage on down and his right arm, but that didn't inconvenience him too much. He merely commanded a portion of his familiars, water borne insects, to skid along the surface of the chin deep water to infest the remains of the bodies Shinji had been commanding.

From there he could patch together a new body and escape into the sewer system as well.

"Fufufu. What a cheeky grandchild I have," The old man amusedly thought while his Crest Worms reported Shinji's thoughts on succeeding him.

Fortunately for Shinji, he had managed to secure the boy in the fiery aftermath of the attack on his land. The unfortunate officers that had seen him come up to the surface from his workshop had quickly been hypnotized into searching out and bringing any remains of either of his grandchildren to him.

From there, Zouken had consumed the sheep following his orders and used the dying embers of his grandson's life to form a new familiar using the incubated worms within the magus.

"Good luck, Shinji. Everyone will be hunting for you soon," Zouken chuckled.

Unfortunately, things would definitely go badly for whoever had taken his Prototype from Zouken. The magus could still faintly feel his connection to the Prototype somewhere in the city. He tried to connect into the Prototype's senses to try and see where she was once again.

Zouken once again marveled as his eyes filled with static, and only hazy shapes behind thick gray fog appeared before his eyes. He waited several more moments to try and see if he could force the connection any better, but he kept receiving the same signals.

"Spare the rod..." Zouken sneered at the thought of his experiment daring to escape from him. Whoever had taken her must have had some sort of idea of what she was if they were able to scramble even her nerves to this degree.

Zouken felt a quiet stir of worry in him, and he once again sent another command to prioritize the Prototype over Shinji's own interests.

For now he'd have to wait. Then he could begin to plan his next move.

* * *

"Use Reinforcement again," Kiritsugu's shaky image demanded of Shirou.

The mind expanding effects of the pills were actually rather mild in comparison to having had his magic circuits flipped on for the first time. The solid edges on things began to grow wavy, and colors bled together whenever Shirou turned his head.

"Henshin!" Shirou was ready for the effects of his magic circuits flaring this time. A jolt of energy made his hips thrust a bit outwards. The sensation of briefly turning into a live-wire coursed outwards from his waist line.

The magus reached out to that wild energy and squeezed it in between his hands.

'Reinforce.'

He shakily breathed out when the torrent of energy flowing through his veins began to swirl, with the power radiating out into his body. The moment that it began to swirl became his undoing when his tentative control slipped from his hands.

"G-gah!" Shirou choked, muscles beginning to clench and unclench wildly. He flopped to the ground when his legs cramped up. However, he knew he couldn't give up on this. Not only would he be forced to do it all over again after he rested, but he wouldn't get anywhere if he chickened out at this time.

'Reinforce.'

The redhead was finding himself pant, his breath running short, but refused to give up. His vision drunkenly swam, and he tried to claw at the information he knew about reinforcement to distract himself from how he was flopping like a fish.

He was basically adding energy to an already finished product, right? Maybe if he tested what different amounts of flow did-

Shirou let out a scream as his train of thought was shattered, and he coughed up blood. He felt something in the center of him wrench, and then everything went gray as his body shut down on him.

"Shirou!" Kiritsugu stepped forward, a look of worry in his face, but paused as golden light surged outwards from his body. Avalon finally triggered when his muscles ruptured several organs, having grown too massive from the reinforcement.

The redhead's prana flickered from the overwhelming torrent that was tearing his body apart, to a weak trickle to his mind to keep it alive. Avalon furiously undid the damage its wielder had just done to himself.

Kiritsugu knelt down besides Shirou. The elder Emiya pressed his fingers to Shirou's neck, and nodded in satisfaction.

The older man closed his eyes and used Structural Grasp on the boy in front of him. With a steady will, he snuck motes of his prana into Shirou and discovered that the teenager before him had been shifting his mass wildly about, tearing his organs.

Making sure to send more prana to Shirou's brain to keep it alive, Kiritsugu sat back on his haunches with his hand on the redhead's brow.

'Good. You're learning to tolerate more prana usage and experimenting with it.' The older man briefly felt a moment of pride for the young man before him. Using his hypnosis and his structural grasp on the youth, he began to seek out the recently added memories in the youth's brain. Once he found the recent activity, he began to dull the intensity of the memories. 'Just a little more and you'll be ready...'

Suddenly he felt the rattling of the wards on the premises jangling. A familiar magus was approaching.

Kiritsugu looked down at Shirou one more time, and once he was assured that he wouldn't need anymore help maintaining his life, released his hold on him.

He reached for a gun on his nearby table. The first one that came to his hand was his Mystic Code, and the tool of his trade. The Thompson Contender fit snugly, and with familiarity, in his hand as he gripped it.

* * *

Taiga had decided to be domestic this fine, late morning. She inwardly tittered with almost school girlish glee at making her husband something special since Shirou and Ilya were both away. She had been about to go and dial out for take out when Shirou had gone to her husband's workshop, and she had gazed at the kitchen.

A switch had gone off somewhere deep inside at that point.

When she had come back from her haze, she had three pots bubbling in front of her. Taiga had attempted to try two of them only to nearly pass out on the spot.

So now here she was in the kitchen. Two of those pots were now soaking behind her after she had made sure to dump the bio-hazard down the drain without a lick of care to proper disposal methods. She really hoped the burnt food that stubbornly clung to the bottom of those pots weren't attempting to merge with the stainless steel into some kind of new life form.

'Then, this is all I'm really good for, is it?' Taiga bit her lip slightly. She moved to sit at the counter that overlooked the living room from the kitchen.

The woman shook her head and threw off those depressing thoughts. She had done everything she had to take care of Ilya and Shirou when Kiritsugu and Ren both acted like either apathetic fools or drunken losers.

'Yeah, I'm just not good in these freaking D&D settings, that's all,' Taiga assured herself. It was ironic that she had wound up marrying a Magus when everything was said and done, but Ilya had needed herself a female role model.

That, and Taiga had been stalki-courting Kiritsugu for as long as he had been in the city. She mentally gave his former assistant and always looming romantic thre-bane of her existence another two middle finger salute from the depths of her mind.

Surely Hisau Maiya was happy now. It had practically been a picture book romance when the cold hearted mercenary had been swept off her feet by that influential and well breed Magus family.

Taiga cheerfully ignored the implications when she had been told it was insurance instead.

'I need to get Waver-kun another care package.' Taiga mused, planning to get in contact with the young Noble of the El-Melloi lineage of the Magus Association. She had to find out video games to bribe him with next for introducing the Hisau to...

What was that Magus' name again?

Edelfelt?

The sound of the doorbell reached her, and the short haired mother looked up from her third bubbling pot. Taiga sighed, and turned down the heat on her miso and tuna. She wiped her hands on the slightly charred apron she was wearing, and rubbed the yeast off her face with a wet cloth.

"Coming!" Taiga called out, smiling as she walked up to the door. Reaching the door, she undid the lock, and opened the door wide open.

The apron clad woman's danger senses suddenly went into overdrive as she gazed upon the short haired foreigner with red hair.

'Wait...is it and her eyes maroon?' Taiga's glare went even more intense as she realized. 'She has a beauty mark!'

Oh, how the mother was quickly growing to loath the beauty. Taiga's gaze quickly rushed from top to bottom, taking in the rather fit looking woman in a three piece business suit.

The woman politely stood and waited for Taiga to speak up, but began to grow a bit uncomfortable beneath the increasingly pointed look Taiga was giving her. Eventually she cleared her throat, and brushed a hand through her hair.

"My name is Bazette Fraga McRemitz. I'm from the Fuyuki Fire Department." Bazette politely smiled at Taiga and offered a gloved hand. "Would Shirou Urobuchi be in by any chance?"

* * *

"Shirou is Passable Credit to Team" Score Card:

- Ilya Route Opened.

- "Reinforcement of a lifetime of deviancy for Ilya" Achievement Unlocked.

- "Eye of the Taiga Dojo Survivalist" Achievement Unlocked.

- "Goddamned Magi. Logic. Logic *nowhere*" Achievement Unlocked.

- "Knight Rider" stage - S rank.

- Job Change! 0-level Wizard now unlocked.


	12. Chapter 12

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 12: Nondetection

Miyu Inu sighed as she finished the last plate, and reached up to shut off the running water. She wiped her wet hands clean on the surface of her mother's apron. The large cloth nearly dragged along the ground, but she kept from tracking it across the floor by wearing it only when she was on a chair in front of the sink.

The little squid in a white dress design was too cute to soak up with dirty water; but Miyu made sure to wipe her hands on the other parts of the fabric.

The black haired girl gazed out through the window above her sink, and into the streets of Misaki City. The sun was just cresting directly above the sky, and the day looked bright and cheerful. She once again wondered why she had decided to stay home instead of going to school today.

"Mooorning, Miyu-chan." Oh, that was why.

Miyu had a placid look to her eyes, turning on top of her chair to glance at the lazily smiling expression of her half brother. Arihiko Inui's crimson hair was a mess, the imprint of a pillow firmly pressed to half of his face. He merrily ignored the judging gaze she turned on him, walking up to her to ruffled her hair.

The girl's eyes slowly closed into a half lidded gaze. Oh, how nice and kind her big bro-*no*!

"That's brainwashing!" Miyu firmly accused, ducking slightly to avoid more petting, and bringing both hands up to her head.

"Tsk. Why do you keep acting so fastidious?" Arihiko cackled, and wiggled his fingers at her playfully.

Miyu happily clapped at Arihiko's usage of a word above his normal drawl. "You're reading that book I lent you!" She cheered for her older brother.

"I-I'm not that bad!" The redhead looked a bit annoyed.

"Still trying to beat Tohno-san? Eee! Not the head!" Miyu giggled. Arihiko firmly put his hand on top of her skull, and shook her from side to side a bit.

"I'm telling you! You can take down his little sister if you gave it your all!" Arihiko pouted, once again trying to outline his grand plan to definitely win against Shiki Tohno. "You have much more well defined little sister qualities than Miyako-chan does."

"That's comparable to cockfighting, nii-san." Miyu crossed her arms in front of her chest, and gave a big pout up at Arihiko.

"No, no. We did tha-" Arihiko snapped his mouth shut. "I-it's wasn't weird!"

Miyu once again reevaluated her big brother's weird personality.

"Really! I'll bring Tokie-san out here to prove it!" Arihiko slumped before the piercing gaze of his little sister. "...she had fun after everything was said and done?"

"**Anyway**, I have your breakfast and lunch in the fridge." Miyu offered a smile to try and brush things away. Desperately brush things away. "I also made your and nee-chan's meals for dinner."

It was time to address the second thing that had made her want to stay home from school.

Arihiko's gloomy expression cleared up, and he gazed over at Miyu intently. "...are you sure you really want to go ahead and do this? It's been nine years. There's no telling what he might have been told by his father after Alice-san tied the knot with the old man."

"Maybe...but it's not that far away. I should be able to get there in a few hours." Miyu smiled hopefully at Arihiko. "Do you want to come with me, nii-san?"

"Hmph. I suppose I must." Arihiko glanced away from her. "It's different when a nine year old boy and a nine year old girl take their first trips out of town." He rubbed his hands together. "Plus I can rub it in Shiki's face that I'm a much better big brother than he is."

Miyu rolled her eyes. She glanced out towards the city one more time.

'I hope you don't reject me, big brother,' The girl prayed as she took off her apron, and set it aside to start packing for the trip to Fuyuki City.

* * *

Kiritsugu Emiya thumbed at the safety of his Mystic Code, and moved towards the exit of his workshop. Reaching out with his free hand, the Magus Killer switched on a bank of televisions.

Several dozen camera angles appeared throughout the screens before him. Each showed various sides of the different rooms in the house, absolutely covering the area to prevent any blind spots on them. Kiritsugu grimaced when he saw his wife open the front door.

Kiritsugu quickly thumbed off the safety on his gun, and quickly armed himself while Taiga kept speaking to the woman on the screen. His barrier continued to silently ring its alarm. The maroon haired woman continued standing in front of his increasingly agitated looking wife, and answering her questions.

He flipped on the speaker to listen in on their conversation.

"_My name is Bazette Fraga McRemitz. I'm from the Fuyuki Fire Department." _Bazette politely smiled at Taiga, and offered a gloved hand._ "Would Shirou Urobuchi be in by any chance?"_

Kiritsugu grimaced. So Shirou had already gotten himself followed by a magus. He glanced over at the resting redhead, and made sure to find out what had occurred. Once one person had tracked someone successfully, others easily could follow the same trail in their wake.

The man picked up a blue tooth headset connected to the recorders, and placed it in the bud of his ear. A press of a button later, and his Taiga's incredulous statements as to the youth and beauty of the woman she was facing flooded his ear.

The older man quickly opened the entrance to his workshop, and began to ascend the stairway back towards the tool shed. Kiritsugu could make out the shadows of both women move further into the building. He quickly peered around the corner of the door to the shack.

'Tsk. She moved.' Kiritsugu frowned. He pulled his rifle closer to the front of his body, and spun out into the open. With rapid footsteps, he quickly pulled into the back of the tool shed.

Moments later, he crept to where the back of the shed met the main building. The wall of the house beside the dinged up motorcycle Saber had left Kiritsugu to fix was off color. He knelt down, and set aside his rifle.

The Magus Killer paused. Kiritsugu's hands raised, and pushed the discreetly hidden panel aside to sneak into the house.

"_We tried to find him at home, but his father said he was staying with you," _Bazette continued.

"_That's true," _Taiga agreed. A bit too hastily. He mentally groaned. Well, at least mind control magecraft wouldn't make her go against her nature.

Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes. Something else faintly registered on his danger senses. Feeling a tiny itch in the back of his head, the Magus Killer pulled out a pair of binoculars from within his coat.

He turned, and raised them in the direction he most felt the danger coming from.

"Damn," Kiritsugu breathed. A blue haired man in a bodysuit of the same hue was standing at least a good two miles away on a three story building. In his hands, the man was holding onto a glowing, and barbed, red spear. He was gazing directly at Kiritsugu with narrowed eyes.

The man pulled his arm back slightly, and the spear pulsed with stronger light. It appeared he had been caught, and formerly given a warning. How unusual for a magus in a Grail War.

Well, except for Waver and Kariya, the older man thought.

Now that Kiritsugu's hand had been forced, the magus set down his rifle for now, and walked into the building properly. With her Servant watching from above, and the property's walls working against him, he'd have to see this Bazette directly.

'I can't believe I'm working within the rules,' Kiritsugu thought, feeling the weight of his Thompson Contender inside his coat. Still, he had a huge disadvantage with Taiga seemingly under the woman's command now.

"So where is Shirou Urobuchi? I know his father doesn't know anything..." Bazette was telling Taiga, who was staring at her blankly. The young woman, intently trying to scoop the secrets out of the other woman's mind with her magic, leapt at the sight of him.

"She won't talk." Kiritsugu simultaneously circulated his od within his magic circuits, preventing her from trying to hypnotize him. "Taiga asked me to place another command in her mind long ago."

"Y-you...!" Bazette stuttered. Only Taiga's proximity to the foreigner, and the intense itch between Kiritsugu's shoulders, kept him from trying his luck, and putting the other magus down at the moment. "Magus Kil-"

"What are you doing here?" Kiritsugu roughly bit out. It was enough to get the other woman to compose herself, wide maroon eyes narrowing back to normal.

"I came to erase the memories of a non-magus," Bazette automatically responded. "I didn't think you would be here..."

Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes, and the woman quickly raised her hands up in surrender.

"I didn't mean it that way," Bazette hurriedly replied. The younger woman gestured over to Taiga. The woman moved over towards the nearby table, and slumped down before it. She snored lightly, sleeping off the effects of the hypnosis. "I'm sorry about your wife, but she was getting in my way."

Kiritsugu grunted. He probably would have fried his own victim's minds instead of dallying as much. "Are you with the Church?" He knew for a fact that an enemy Master would have slaughtered everyone involved instead of relying on hypnosis.

Bazette shook her head. "No. I'm an Enforcer for the Association like yourself."

"A Master," Kiritsugu replied, causing the foreigner to reluctantly nod. "Why did you think that I wasn't going to be here?"

"Maiya Hisau told me," Bazette returned. The woman still looked incredibly confused. "You were supposed to have left for a mission four days ago. She knows that you always cut off all communications at that time."

"That's...true," Kiritsugu replied, surprised a little, but not allowing himself to be persuaded just with that. "What else did Maiya tell you?"

"You two set up the bomb." Bazette nervously jumbled her words. "Uhm! A bomb on the ley lines. To cause part of it to collapse."

Kiritsugu began to relax more. "That's right..." He knew that if Maiya had shared that information with Bazette, then his former assistant trusted her implicitly. One just didn't go around sharing that they had ruined incredibly complex rituals.

"It was supposed to keep Heaven's Feel from ever happening again," Bazette continued, emboldened by Kiritsugu's faint nod. "But I still got my own Command Spells seven days ago."

"That's right. I'm still trying to figure out what happened." Kiritsugu felt pretty vexed that his own method of operation was working against him. He would have had some warning ahead of time otherwise. "You can put your hands down."

'Thank goodness,' Bazette breathed out a sigh of relief, and lowered her arm. 'Maiya was right. He is intense.'

"I was going to leave to handle a target that had been making too much noise for Association's liking," Kiritsugu told Bazette. "But I got a communications from a man claiming that the mission had been canceled. I went to confirm it, but the Association denied ever sending me such a message."

"So they canceled the mission," Bazette completed. She knew that if there was a security leak anywhere, the Association would get nervous, and scrap everything.

"Yes. So I stayed behind in town," Kiritsugu continued. "Fortunately for me, since it turned out that Shirou Urobuchi got involved in the new War."

"W-what? You're involving normal people?" Bazette looked horrified. Her eyes began to flare up with heat moments later though. "You know we can't do that!"

Kiritsugu shrugged. "He's a Master. Like yourself." His words took the fight out of the younger woman.

"...oh." Bazette blinked. She balked, and looked around. "Then...there's no point to this."

"I wouldn't say that." Kiritsugu quickly moved in for the kill. With how earnest the woman was, maybe he could take advantage of that. It certainly looked like Maiya had. "Maiya trusted you enough to come in, and take care of this, right?"

"Yes. She's one of the first of the nobility to actually acknowledge our family." Bazette stood up prouder at the notion. She started to smile, and continued. "If it wasn't for her, I know that my own personal lot in life would probably be a lot worse off!"

"I don't know about that. Becoming a Master might have been seen as something special," Kiritsugu idly replied, trying to forge a connection. "I'm sure that people in the know would have approved of you because of that."

"Uhm...actually, that's true." Bazette lightly tapped her left fist into her right palm. "The manager of the War wanted to know if I could join her in keeping the peace. I would have too, but I wanted to focus all my attention on Maiya's request first!"

'What...what a simple woman.' Kiritsugu boggled. Well, such earnestness was at least somewhat heartwarming to see. Almost like a puppy, really.

"Still, both of the requests were similar enough that I decided to keep an eye on things. Which lead me here. Small world, huh?" Bazette wondered.

"Well, if Maiya trusted you, then I'd like to believe you as well." Not that Kiritsugu completely would lower his guard, but it'd be the most expedient way of finding out what she knew. "Invite your Servant in. I'll make us some tea."

"Alright." Bazette clenched her fist. Internally she began to cheer. She was going to be having tea with the Magus Killer himself!

'Lancer, come in! We're having drinks,' Bazette requested.

'Master, you're too soft.' Lancer's chuckled. He did dispel the prana empowering Gae Bolg and the runes enhancing his vision, though. With a flick of his wrist, he banished the demonic spear, and raced towards the Emiya home.

He wasn't going to pass down a chance to have a drink with a warrior, though.

* * *

Rin Tohsaka was riding high in life the last few days. She had discovered a new form of magic to rub into the xenophobic noses of the Mage's Association in the near future, she had eye-candy as far as she could see in her house, and most importantly...

"But it looks so cute!" Rin protested. She observed her kidnapped, and 'forcibly' converted, sister try to pull her hair out of the twin tails Rin had done up in Sakura's hair.

...she had her sister back.

Both sisters were currently standing in front of a large mirror in the bathroom, with Sakura standing in front of Rin. They stared at the thick and long twin tails pooling out from the top of Sakura's head. The purple haired teenager quirked her head, sending the two tails bouncing.

"Ah, I don't really think the look fits me so much." Sakura also was riding on a perpetual high, almost constantly flushed with happiness. The struggles of the worms within were settling down. The younger of the two was focusing intently on keeping them from ruining this for her.

"What about a ponytail, then? You've got so much hair to play with. I'm pretty jealous. It's really soft and nice." Rin ran her hands through Sakura's long locks.

"Do you think so?" Sakura stuttered with a tiny grin.

"I know so." Rin suddenly heard her cellphone begin to ring. She let go of her sister's hair, and held a hand up. "Ah, just a moment."

'She had a cellphone?' Sakura stared at Rin in no little amount of surprise. The other girl confirmed the fact, pulling out a phone from the pocket of a pair of pants she was wearing. She flipped open the phone.

"Hello, Rin Tohsaka speaking," Rin breathed, polite and a touch meek. She sank into her typical 'idol' persona, bleaching away the thoughts in her mind, and the traits of her personality to be as accessible as possible.

'That's not Rin.' Sakura mentally frowned. The younger girl always hated it when her oldest sister had to put on this vapid act for the benefit of other people. 'She should be more honest...'

Not that Sakura had a right to say anything about that.

Rin was about to question why her little sister suddenly drooped, when the caller on the other end of the line spoke up.

"Good afternoon, Rin," The voice of Kirie Kotomine grandly replied. Rin almost disconnected the phone on the spot. "I'm surprised my cute fellow disciple has decided to join the rest of the world."

"Kotomine..." Rin growled. Her cover shattered, exposing her real persona. "How'd you get this number?"

"Oh, my daughter saw you the other day," Kotomine breezily responded. "She felt it was important that the lines of communication between her father and his fellow disciple be maintained, so she politely asked for some information."

"...she hypnotized them, didn't she?"

"That's between her and God."

Rin's eyebrow twitched. She wondered if maybe this was the reason she had never gotten a cell phone. "So, what do you want, you fake priest?"

"Yes, well. I'd like to have a consultation with you," Kotomine calmly replied, ignoring her nickname for him. "Since we're fellow disciples of your father's arts, I'd like to know if you could investigate the annihilation of the Matou."

Rin began to sweat. Sakura glanced at her in worry. Rin pressed a button to switch the phone to speaker mode.

"I'm positively besides myself in worry for what this will do to the balance of the Grail War," Kotomine coolly continued.

"Bad things happen all the time. They just weren't up to snuff," Rin quickly replied.

"True enough, but we need to at least recover what information the Matou have on the Grail. Future Grail Wars might depend on knowledge that's now lost," Kotomine smoothly replied. "Could I rely on you to retrieve anything the family may have had? Since you have a Servant and all..."

Rin realized that she was starting to crush the phone a bit too tightly when Sakura stepped forwards and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"...peachy," Rin breathed.

"Good to see you're such a responsible person, Rin," Kotomine chuckled. "Just be careful. Caren and I would so hate to see your home get destroyed..."

Sakura brought her hands up to her mouth in shock.

"Kotomine!" Rin barked, trembling with rage.

"...from a misunderstanding with the Einzbern," Kotomine smoothly concluded, and hung up. Both girls stared at the phone in Rin's hand, then shared uncomfortable looks. The air had somehow gotten cold between the two girls.

* * *

"So, this is my Master's home," Saber mused. She stood with Ilya outside the small, one-story home. Pedestrians stood a few feet away at the corner of the intersection the Urobuchi resident lay on, and gave the blonde very odd looks.

'Not that I can say anything for myself,' Ilya sighed. She resisted the urge to move her right arm from the impromptu sling she had made out of her pink hoodie. Several people tried their best to gaze away from her due to the combination of the smell about her, and the stains in her outfit and clothing.

"Yes. Urobuchi-san should be napping." The silver haired girl waited for the people waiting nearby to start moving away, before she walked to the gate to the house. She unlatched it, allowing the two girls to walk into the very small front yard.

"How will we get in?" Saber looked over at Ilya, and the girl simply grinned and drew out a small set of keys.

"I have a key for the house." Ilya dangled a small keychain with three keys on it. She handed it over to Saber. "Can you get the door for me? The key for the house is the red one."

"...oh." Saber blinked in surprise, and took the keys. Taking out the one that had a bit of red paint on it, the blonde quickly opened the door for the two of them.

Ilya kicked her shoes off outside the house. At Saber's curious look, she shrugged. "Best we don't track anything inside at all."

Saber grimaced, having stepped in that foul water in her shoes. "That's true." She also removed them right on the front step of the house before they went inside.

"You can use mine while I borrow oniichan's slippers." Ilya casually slipped on a set.

"Ilyasviel..." Saber began, but was interrupted by Ilya's glare. She quickly corrected herself. "Ilya, are you sure we should enter?" She awkwardly wondered.

"It's fine. I come in when Urobuchi-san and oniichan are napping all the time. They can be surprisingly lazy bums when they aren't working. We can just wait a while in oniichan's room for a bit." Ilya rubbed at her sling. "Maybe get patched up."

"Alright..." Saber reluctantly nodded.

"Let's go in, then," Ilya cheered. She pushed open the wooden sliding door in front of them to allow them into an empty living room. Off to the side, a small kotatsu was resting a few feet away from a larger table in the center of the room. Facing the table was a large television on a rather nice stand.

Ilya casually walked up towards the center of the room. She clicked her tongue at seeing several dishes on the kotatsu, and moved to pick them up. "Just a second, Saber. I want to take care of something."

"Uhm..." Saber began, but Ilya was already picking up the dishes with her good hand. The silver haired girl moved towards the back of the room, where a wooden cabinet and an opening in the wall divided it away from the main room. The blonde moved slightly to the side to gaze past the opening to see a refrigerator facing her.

Saber's stomach growled a bit at being reminded about food.

The blonde flushed, and looked away from the kitchen. The sound of water being run began to fill the room, and Saber found herself beginning to wander around. Three bookcases hung onto the walls, and she peered at some of their titles.

"To Serve Man." "Saya no Uta (draft)." "Neverending Story."

Saber glanced away from the titles, and walked out into the hallway to the east. A long hall with six doors went ahead. Her eye caught a gleaming picture that was hanging in the hallway, and her curiosity drew her near.

The blonde smiled at seeing a picture of her a serious looking redhead gazing upwards solemnly from where he was crouching in tall grass. It seemed it had been taken outside, since the image had an orange overtone to it.

Faintly in the background, Saber could make out an odd piece of equipment. The information link granted to her by the Grail began to mutely buzz, but before it could explain to her what it was, she felt the presence of Ilya behind her.

"I put the dishes to soak," Ilya softly told her, wiping her left hand on her shirt. Spotting the picture Saber was looking at, a wide grin crossed her mouth. "Oh, that's the picture Urobuchi-san took of oniichan at school."

Saber blinked, looking over at Ilya briefly, before she glanced back at the picture frame. Her eyes were once again drawn to the object in the background. A long piece of what seemed like wood held up by two stilts.

"That's a jumping bar. Or something like that," Ilya explained. She looked nostalgic as she stepped forward, and tapped where it was being held up. "Shirou tore up his thighs good, but he made the jump..."

Saber's eyes flicked over to Ilya, and then the picture.

"You're lucky, you know." Ilya glanced over at Saber, and then back at the picture of the solemn looking child. In his eyes, she could see satisfaction and inner pride. "I know that Shirou seems sort of lame sometimes, but nothing can stop him once he applies himself."

"I think that's more because my son acts like a pigheaded fool in front of you, Ilya-chan." One of the doors slid open to reveal a middle aged man with short black hair. He was still wearing a set of loose white and blue pajamas. He turned wrinkled eyes towards them.

"Ahaha. Well, I can appreciate the notion of a boy working so hard for my sake, Urobuchi-san!" Ilya grinned over at the man. She gestured at herself with a sheepish look on her face. "I'd hug you, but I'm a mess..."

"I don't mind. It'll inspire me to not be a lazy ass if I have to change." The older man walked out of his room, and held his arms out regardless. However, the last of the sleepiness in his eyes faded away when he looked at the state Ilya was in. "...what the hell happened to you, Ilya-chan?"

Saber and Ilya both winced. Oh, this wasn't going to be easy to explain.

* * *

"So, this priest might know the part we played in the destruction of the Matou home?" Rider scowled. She didn't like the fact that the plan hadn't gone off without a hitch. Especially since she had done everything but fling Pegasus at Saber and Shirou Urobuchi to draw attention.

"To be honest, this works for us," Archer replied. "If it's a request from the manager of the War, he'll pull the others away from investigating it now."

Sakura chewed on her lower lip. Whatever Archer had done to her with Tarnhelm had seemingly been completed after a night of wearing it, and the older man had drawn the artifact off her head finally.

"A transformation and disguise artifact might not be enough. It's dangerous down there..." She spoke to the other three.

"Maybe." Archer merely jostled the helmet in between his hands. "But it's not the only thing I have available."

"...are you sure you're not Perseus?" Rider gave the male a mock glare.

"Sure I am, Medusa." Archer grinned.

"Tarnhelm does help us, though." Rin interrupted the two Servants from devolving into bickering. "It can let us disguise Rider. You two can go, and explore the Matou home at that point."

Sakura gripped at the short skirt she was wearing from Rin. "The Matou magic is based around absorption and binding..." She tried to explain, causing the others to look at her. Sakura nervously licked her lips. "I-if my grandfather survived, he could do a lot of harm to you two."

"Grandfather...?" Rin blinked and looked at Sakura. "I thought it was just you and Shinji..."

Archer and Rider glanced at each other. Their eyes hardened slightly.

"We're still bound to you two, though. Can he sunder a Servant bond?" Archer's tone went dry, and his eyes shone with seriousness.

"No, but our family created the Command Spells. We also created the system that drew your spirits in originally. Grandfather might know how to destabilize you two long enough to trap you." Sakura began to stutter more and more under Rin's curious gaze.

'Please don't ask more about the Matou...' Sakura desperately hoped her worm of a grandfather had died, but she could feel it ever so faintly. He was still prodding at their connection. She prayed that the magus had to flee through the escape tunnel to avoid being exposed to the sun.

"All the more important that we go in as a team, then," Rider murmured.

"I can get Tarnhelm to hide your form, Rider. That way they don't expect that it's you," Archer replied.

"Why can't you hide yourself too?" Rin asked as her laser like gaze went away from Sakura. To Sakura's great relief.

"Simple. They didn't see me," Archer replied. "They know what Rider looks like."

"But...didn't you have to keep that helmet on Sakura all night? We don't have the time." Rider pointed out.

"That was for something else." Archer looked over at Sakura casually. The purple haired magus froze up, seeing something flashed in the older man's gaze.

"What was it for, then?" Rin asked pointedly.

Sakura forgot how to breath as she stared into the man's gray eyes. Her own eyes began to silently beg for something she didn't quite understand herself.

Rider's eyes narrowed.

"...scrying," Archer continued. "She's the heir. They could be tracking her. I just did some low level changes to her magic circuits."

"...what?" Rin stepped back in shock. "That's insane! You can't change someone's soul, can you?"

Sakura and Rider both gaped at what Archer was so casually admitting to.

"Tarnhelm is an artifact of transformation from the Age of the Gods. It allowed the heroes who wielded it to shape their bodies like clay with a hefty donation of prana. That's because you're basically flipping the World off by enforcing the rule "This is not a Heroic Spirit you're looking at"." Archer vaguely waved his hand in the air. He saw Rin was working that out.

"It's like a reality marble on the surface of your body?" Rin asked.

"Sort of. You basically trick the World into temporarily thinking you're something or someone else." Archer raised a hand to keep anyone from asking. "However, what if you're working strictly within the bounds of your soul? Like, you allow Tarnhelm to lock onto the blueprint of your soul, and just direct it to rewind you?"

"You would grow younger?" Rider wondered breathlessly.

"...you could reverse any modifications done." Sakura stared at the man in awe.

"Bingo. It's still 'you'. I'm just loading the 'you' from the backup coming from the source. The World ain't gonna say shit. Sort of like restoring from a backup on a computer..." Archer explained. "Sakura 1.0 as it were."

He received blank looks for his comparison. Ignoring the urge to sigh, Archer turned to gaze at Rider pleasantly. "So...do you wish to be the little girl, Medusa?" He wondered with a cheeky smile.

* * *

Shirou felt himself floating. Normally this would be enough to frighten, or at least cause him to blurt out something inane, but this time he was feeling too tired. So his body hung in mid-air, and the teenager tried to get enough energy to at least attempt to twitch a limb.

'Wiggle your big toe.' Each individual molecule in his body felt like they were chaffing up against each other. His head continued to limply hang where he was granted a front row seat to gazing down into a dark void below.

"How now, brown cow?" Shirou's intense consideration as to the profound mysteries in that gaping hole beneath him was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a child's voice. It was surprising enough that Shirou was finally able to gaze upwards.

To see a giant cave before him. A large boulder that had seemingly been covering the entrance to it was smashed up into several smaller pieces which dotted the front of the cave. Sitting on top of one of the larger pieces of the rock was a brown haired boy in a uniform from his school.

Shirou tried to speak, but his lips absolutely refused to move after the expenditure of energy to look away from the abyss beneath him. The boy in front of him nodded knowingly.

"Kneejerk reactions work the best when you're sleeping," The boy mused outloud. "I probably should have gone with trying to jolt you completely out of the paralysis."

'What is he talking about?' Shirou wondered. He wasn't asleep. He usually had much better dreams than talking to a kid. Stuff like...

The boy's eyes shined merrily.

A bear roared uncomfortably close to Shirou's ear. The redhead instinctively spun around, and gazed upwards at the looming black bear. Its jaws drooled saliva down on top of his face from above, and its foot long claws gleamed ominously in the redhead's eyes.

There could only be one response.

"ZA WARUDO!"

Everything briefly went grey before returning to its normal colors. Shirou leapt high, and flung his arm outwards, launching a set of knifes out from the sleeves of his t-shirt. Quickly landing on his feet, he dashed to another angle, and threw another set of knives.

When time resumed, there was no escape as hundreds of knives stabbed deep into the bear. The beast twitched and spasmed before Shirou's absolute attack, then collapsed before his feet in a pool of blood.

Finally, the steamroller came down on top of the beast's corpse.

**Flawless victory.**

"...you're one violent kid," The boy laughed. Shirou looked down at his arms, which had been crossed in front of his blood stained white and blue t-shirt. He sheepishly straightened his legs from where he had been leaning slightly forward on his left leg.

Shirou decided not to think about the one with the can of spam and sharks.

"Well, at least that snapped you out of it." The boy smiled as much with his eyes as he did with his mouth. "My name is Myrddin Emrys. So, you want to be a Wizard, huh?"

* * *

_Wise up!_

Tarnhelm

[From Clay Humanity Was Made]

Owners: Alberich, Fafner, and Siegfried

Type: Support

Rank: n/a

A magic helmet in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. It is used as a cloak of invisibility by Alberich in Das Rheingold. It also allowed Alberich to change into a dragon and then a frog, Fafner transformed into a dragon, and Siegfried transformed into another man. Finally, it allows one to travel long distances instantly as Siegfried did in the original tale.

As a Noble Phantasm, the transformation aspect of the helmet was emphasized by Archer above everything else. In exchange for losing the ability of instant travel, it has gained finer control over its transformation abilities.

With its dual abilities to project a false reality around the user and to follow the path of the wielder's soul from its source to its end, Tarnhelm is a powerful support artifact.


	13. Chapter 13

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 13: Polymorph

The two Tohsaka sisters, Archer, and Medusa found themselves heading down to the basement of the Tohsaka mansion shortly after Kotomine's 'request' had been made. The basement was completely empty – a cavernous chamber that stretched far off into the distance.

Sakura was rather fascinated by the display, glancing around curiously, even as she rubbed at her arms. The colder air down here seeped in past her sweater. The area where they were standing was made of smooth and polished stone.

The moment she set foot on the shining stone, the cooling sensations that had taken the hurts away from her ravaged body since last night became all that more overwhelming. Sakura nearly wept with joy as her being was suffused with energy.

The purple haired teenager covered it up with a gasp. She glanced over at the remains of Rin's summoning circle, which were still down here with them.

"Alright! We're going to do this by the books. I don't want a screw up here! Becoming a little girl is Serious Business these days." The capitalization could be heard in Archer's words as he glanced at the bemused pair of Sakura and Rin.

Mostly so he didn't have to see how eager the older woman was acting. She was practically vibrating out of her short dress in excitement.

"Uhm. What should we do so we don't invoke the serious business?" Sakura looked equal parts confused and happy for her servant. Rin groaned from besides her younger sister. She was paying more attention to her cell phone than her loyal, charming, and totally humble servant!

'She's learning!' Archer felt inordinately proud of the younger girl while she continued surfing the internet on her phone.

"It's simple! There was a cult to Medusa at one point! She used to be one of a triad of goddesses in her era, right?" Rin glanced up at the Archer smugly. She held out her cell phone first towards him, and then at Sakura. She proudly stuck her nose out at her researching skills. "We're going to be returning some of her Divine Spirit powers!"

Medusa didn't show it on her face, but she felt very offended by Rin's usage of the word 'cult'. Just because her worshipers had gone away from the mainstream religion of the time didn't mean they were a cult. She owed her existence to them!

'I just wish they had made me like my other two sisters, that's all...' Medusa sadly thought. It had been tough to age, and be subtly pushed aside, when her two sisters had continued to be idols for their faithful.

But that was being corrected right now by Archer. She was going to go back to what she had been!

"Well...I was more thinking we'd be hauled away by the police, or banned from any reasonable message board if we allowed photos of her to surface," Archer admitted. Medusa started paying more attention to her surroundings. "But that's good too!"

A brief look of dismay crossed Rin's features. The twin tailed one looked down, and to the right. She brought up her left hand, and placed it over her face.

"...I'm in despair," she mumbled, causing Sakura to giggle. The younger sister happily looked over at Rider, and clicked her tongue at seeing Rider, who paused in her happy gyrations to gaze at the other three in confusion.

"I always did wonder why you wear such a short dress, Medusa," Sakura chided her Servant.

"...I like it." The Anti-Hero defended her sensibilities. "It lets me tease my enemies."

"...huh," Archer grunted. "I always thought there had been a greater meaning to it than that."

Sakura almost felt like joining her sister at that moment.

Meanwhile, Rin continued to invoke the greatest captain of all time's name to get her through this situation. Who knew those damn Dead Apostles had evolved to that point? That they could make technology infused Dead!

"Save me from this petty world, Jean Luc..."

"Well, going back on track," Sakura hemmed, trying to guide away the discussion from things that would make her older sister have an aneurysm. "I just give Medusa the prana she needs, and Tarnhelm will trigger, right?"

Archer was handing Medusa the bronze helmet when Rin spoke up.

"No, I'll do it." Sakura looked over at Rin with a light expression on her face.

"You've been using a lot of your od lately, though..." Sakura fretted.

"You're right. If I use up my od so heavily again, I'll be completely wiped out." Rin smiled at Sakura's concern. "I'm still going to need at least another hour to recover."

"Then let me..." Sakura began again, but was interrupted as Archer held up a hand from where he stood next to Medusa.

"It's best not use your magic circuits more than you have to, Master," Medusa spoke up, gazing at her seriously. "I've been drinking in the ambient energy from this area since last night at Archer and Rin's request..."

Sakura went still.

"Your magic circuits are special," Archer diplomatically explained. "It's best we don't let them run more heavily than they need to."

"Is that so?" Rin calmly wondered. Sakura bit back a shriek as Archer shrugged.

"Tarnhelm is scrambling her new circuits since they had the ability to track her. Best we don't let her trigger them until I'm done resetting her. I don't want her to ...lose control."

'He knows...' Sakura thought in shock. He wouldn't know that part of the situation otherwise. 'I need to find out how he knows!'

"This is our legacy, Sakura." Rin gestured grandly around them. "Somewhere along the line one of our ancestors was a naughty magus, and decided to go vampire. He wound up claiming this ley line for himself, and tweaked things so he could get nourished from it."

"No wonder I feel so good..." Sakura muttered.

"Isn't it just great?" Rin grinned over at her. Sakura's remaining gloominess faded from the overwhelming buzz of energy she was feeling from being able to share this with Rin. "Anyway, I'll convert some of the mana in the cavern into prana for Tarnhelm, and top myself off."

"You two stay here with Tarnhelm," Medusa spoke up.

"What?" Rin shouted, going red in the face. "I still have to show my severe displeasure with the Matou!"

"You should at least still pretend you haven't been caught red handed, Rin," Archer muttered, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "Besides, it's best that we finish converting Sakura's circuit back to normal. We need you two down here to do that."

"I ...guess so," Rin sighed. Archer and Medusa both gave her encouraging smiles.

"We'll be back as soon as we finish the hunt," Medusa replied.

"Will you be alright, Archer?" Rin glanced at the white haired man in concern. "Tarnhelm is your Noble Phantasm..."

"It is," Archer agreed with a sigh. He grinned roguishly at Rin, causing her face to gain a hint of pink. "But if that's all I had to me, I would be a pretty terrible Hero, wouldn't I?"

"Of course," Rin coughed. She ignored how she went pinker, and she saw Sakura's faint smirk. "I summoned you, after all!"

"Of course, Master," Archer smoothly replied. He spared Rin from seeing his own shit eating grin.

"Is this what your time calls 'tsundere'?" Medusa innocently wondered. Both Sakura and Archer began to cough hard, while Rin spluttered.

"The hell you say?" Rin trembled, hair whipping about her like a living mane. Medusa rated her attempt a '4' on her scale.

"Ah, how nostalgic." Medusa had a tiny smile on her lips. Sakura's shoulders trembled, and Archer turned his quaking back on the trio.

"Y-you, don't say things that can be so easily misinterpreted!" Rin shook a tiny fist up at Medusa. The older woman once against felt the urge to try and become as tiny and adorable flare up within her. "Besides, how the hell do you know that word?"

"I'm Greek," Medusa dryly replied. "We invented culture."

"S-so, you mean..." Sakura gasped for breath as she tried to keep her laughter from coming out.

"Stop ripping my sisters' style off, you faker." Medusa solemnly gazed at Rin.

* * *

"You're falling behind in The Game, you know." Myrddin casually told Shirou as he approached the boy at his cave.

"Which one?" The redhead blinked at the brown haired boy. He staggered back, seeing that the twelve year old was now wearing a hooded denim jacket, and a red t-shirt over a pair of slacks. On the front, a cartoon horse headed man in a black shirt was waving.

"The one you just lost." The boy grinned. Shirou blinked again, and ran the conversation through his head.

"Fuck!" Shirou barked, causing the boy to laugh.

"It's not so bad to be number two," Myrddin consoled the redhead. "I mean, **I** never ever have been considered second best at any point in my life, but I've seen countless people who have, and they've lived very productive and rich lives after losing to me."

"...great. Thanks for the support," Shirou dryly grumbled. Myrddin continued to pleasantly smile at Shirou.

"Don't worry. I have researchers hard at work trying to make up a ointment for borderline cases. You do deserve some kudos for totally ruining that homunculus for marriage... and possibly distorting her Origin." The boy gave him a thumbs up. "Gee Gee, man. Gee Gee."

"W-wait!" Shirou blushed. One of the rocks behind Myrddin began to smash itself up against another one furiously, mimicking the sound of a jackhammer at work. "The hell are you talking about!"

"Well, when a boy is an overly hormonal idiot and a girl with some twisted fetishes get together..."

"NO! Not that!" Though Shirou did make a mental note about the issues thing. "What do you mean by 'homunculus'."

"Oh, that." Myrddin's eyes narrowed slightly. A dangerous air began to surround the boy, blowing away the good cheer that he been building up. "A homunculus is a non-human. You know, not one of **your** people."

"Ilya isn't one, though!" Shirou insisted. Myrddin's annoyance at the teenager's sudden aversion to a non-human was balanced out by the fact that it seemed more like he was confused than disgusted. "I've known her since we were kids!"

"There a problem, Mr. Wizard? Should we do an experiment to confirm my words?" Myrddin eased up on the killer instinct, and he quirked his head.

"No." Shirou shook his head. He had always known she was different from the day he had seen the albino in his last year of elementary. "It doesn't matter. Ilya is Ilya."

"Ding ding." Myrddin smiled. "Well, at least I didn't come and show off inside the mind of dick Just a hormonal idiot!" He cheered.

"Hey!" Shirou snarled.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I can teach hormonal idiots!" Myrddin clapped his hands together. "I used to be part of that club too! At least until my membership got revoked because of this one girl who...er, moving on." He rubbed his hands together.

"So...you want to teach me something?" Shirou suspiciously wondered. "You don't seem like the type that does well with students."

"Aww. Come on! I'm one of the most fantastic Wizards mankind has ever known. Hell, the first three lessons are on the house too." Myrddin beamed down at Shirou from his boulder perch. "How about it?"

"Well...this isn't like a deal with The Devil, isn't it?" Shirou suspiciously asked. "I've seen enough crazy shit over the last few days that I don't quite believe it'll be a nice and straightforward situation."

"It's not a deal with The Devil, no." Myrddin smiled happily.

"...a devil? An alien? Slider? Esper? Time traveler?" Shirou continued to stare at the twelve year old.

"Eheheh. Well, I won't throw you into a magical girl outfit to fight off the heat death of the universe, at least," Myrddin sheepishly replied.

"What?" That sounded way too specific of a denial for Shirou.

"Noothing." Myrddin looked away. He turned and brought his hands up before him. The boy's eyes went wide and pleading. "C'mon, it's a money back guarantee! All the cool kids are doing it! You honestly don't want to learn how to throttle Reality until you make it your bitch?"

"Well...okay." Shirou held up a hand. "No magical girl outfits, though!"

Myrddin let out a cheer, and thrust his hand up into the air. He cleared his throat. "What measure is a non-human?"

"Er..." Shirou moved up right in front of the twelve year old.

"Come on, you know this one already!" The boy chided.

"They should be afforded all the dignity and grace as our fellow man?" Shirou tried.

"I was more looking for 'I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers', but yes! That's a much more positive direction! Let's go with that!" Myrddin leaned forward, and patted Shirou on the head. "Good boy. Good boy!"

Shirou's eyebrow twitched.

"Lesson Two: Never. **Ever**. Let Down Your Guard Around Girls Named Viviane," Myrddin solemnly proclaimed.

"Okay...?" Shirou wondered.

"Shit was not cash," The twelve year old grumbled. He drooped slightly on his perched. "Not cash at all..."

'Oh god, what did I just get myself into?' The redhead wondered. He reached up, and lightly patted the bipolar child on the shoulder.

* * *

"A-alright." Archer chortled a bit, wiping at his eyes to remove his tears. "I think it's time that we got back on track..."

Yet his words would never reach his Master's ears.

"I'm not a faker!" Rin gaped at Medusa. The older woman's small smile began to grow wider. "This is the personality I've always had!"

"Faaaakeeer~" Medusa sing songed.

"Why you!" The twin tailed girl sputtered, and looked like she was about to launch herself at the purple haired woman.

"Don't fight!" Sakura quickly moved in between Rin and Medusa, but wasn't fast enough to bring up her hands to stop her more athletic sister. Both Tohsaka sisters let out identical squeals of surprise, and they went crashing to the ground.

"R-Rin!" "Sakura!"

Both Servants moved to pull them apart, but hesitated as they realized the exact position the two had wound up crashing into.

"Okay. **Now** it's been a fantastic Grail War," Archer muttered. Medusa rolled her eyes, and jabbed her elbow into his gut.

Rin squirmed a bit. She was currently finding her nose and face shoved up against warm and bare skin after Sakura's shirt had flipped up and over. The dark haired girl was very much finding that her little sister preferred to go au natural.

Also, the damn room was cold enough she nearly lost an eye staring at Sakura's weather indicators.

Sakura went bright red, and tried to pull her older sister out from under her shirt.

"...truly, I have discovered a new True Magic," Archer breathed. He waited warmly, while two cute girls hopefully prepared themselves.

"What would that be?" Medusa wondered. "Your tsundere Master learning to be so clumsy she violated time and space to wind up in that situation?"

"I'm not tsu-mpgh?" Perhaps it would have been better for Rin to not open her mouth wide to shout while face first in her youngest sister's bountiful cleavage.

"...auu," Sakura moaned, and stopped struggling quite as much.

"Rule of Funny." Archer smirked.

"You're singing it to the chorus." Medusa rolled her eyes beneath her mask.

* * *

"Buddy, you're a boy. You've gotta make a big noise." Myrddin wagged his index finger at Shirou mockingly. After an uncomfortable amount of time consoling the younger boy, Shirou was more than ready to move on to lesson three.

"Well, of course I am. People are boys when they have penises," Shirou sagely stated. Myrddin smirked, and opened his mouth.

"Traps are not part of this discussion." The redhead smoothly cut the boy off.

Myrddin pouted, but moved on to his next point. "You're playin' in the street right now, but gonna be a big man some day."

"That's true. I'm barely on reinforcement as it is, but I know I'll be good someday!" Shirou insisted.

"Someday isn't **today**, though." The twelve year old lightly kicked back and forth up against his stone perch. His feet smacked up against the boulder he was sitting up surprisingly loudly.

Shirou looked around. The ground and dirt beneath his feet began to lightly vibrate. The stones around the cave entrance they were standing at began to rustle. Some of smaller stones detached themselves from the cave entrance, and clattered down against the ground.

Then they rose, and did it again.

The redhead looked over at Myrddin in confusion. The younger boy continued to happily smile, and loudly smacked his feet up against the stone he was sitting on.

Hammering out a beat along with the stones.

'Drums?'

"**You** got mud on yo' face, you big disgrace. I'm gonna kick your can all over the place." Myrddin grinned, gathering lightning up his arm, and condensing it on the tip of his index finger. He pointed at Shirou.

'Oh shit.'

"_Henshin!_" Shirou shouted. He didn't even have time to acknowledge the feeling of cramming lightning up his spine. Prana surged through his body, and Shirou blurred out of the way, crapping thunder in his goal to avoid getting perforated.

The ground he had been standing on exploded in a plume of dust, and razor sharp stone fragments bounced off Shirou's skin harmlessly as he dove to the side. Myrddin snickered, and levitated above the rocks he had been sitting on.

'Is this really the person that my liege is serving? You've gone soft, Arturia!' The boy flicked his left arm out in a flashy manner. A card flickered out of the sleeve of his long sleeved shirt.

"The fuck are you doing this for?" Shirou shouted up at Myrddin . The boy had a impish smile on his face. He played with the card amusedly.

"Why, for the lulz, of course," Myrddin replied to Shirou with an evil light dancing in his eyes. If Shirou couldn't last long enough in his own inner world, then he definitely wouldn't survive the War.

Much less be able to help Arturia, despite Shirou's bravado.

The card in Myrddin 's hand began to shine with power.

"So, let's get down to Lesson Three." The boy crushed the card in his grasp. Streams of energy exploded out of it to infuse the rocks around Myrddin. They hovered up to join the boy in the air above Shirou.

"N-no way..."

"Buddy, I'm an old man, poor man." The drum beats coming from deeper within the cave began to echo louder. Myrddin grinned widely at Shirou. "Pleadin' with your eyes ain't gonna make you some peace."

"Oh...shiiit!" Shirou realized too late what was coming up next. The redhead shot forward, od converting into prana. Only the insane amount of speed he was getting out of his spell kept his brain from being explosively smashed out of his ears.

A boulder - half his size, and moving nearly as quickly as he was, whizzed past his head. It left chalk and dirt in his hair in its wake.

"_Queen Sign: We will... we will... __**ROCK YOU**__!_" Myrddin snapped his fingers, and a storm of boulders, stones, and dirt clods were launched at Shirou. The air was constantly cracking as they speedily zoomed at the rapidly dodging teenager.

"Ow!" Shirou's head snapped back as one smashed up against his forehead, slowing him down for six more to hit him in the blink of an eye. Realizing that hesitation meant death from his lessons with Taiga, Shirou bulldozed through the storm of shots.

The redhead quickly began racking up cuts and bruises, pelted from every conceivable action. "Goddamned bullet shooters!" He cursed his own existence. Why did he always play on easy mode? He'd be the shame of his family if he died here.

"Buddy, you're a young man!" Myrddin wagged a finger.

"Ngh! Not helping!" Shirou was sent flying out of the storm of shrapnel. A large boulder smashed into his torso, which carried him for a moment, before dissolving into smaller stones, and rushing back to Myrddin's side to take its original form again.

The redhead groaned, and he rolled to a stop at the bottom of the crater Myrddin had dug up with his first attack.

"Come on, come on, come on! At least get up, and firmly grasp onto second place. Don't be such an underachiever that you're fighting people off for last place!" Myrddin hooted and spun in mid-air. Larger drumming began to echo throughout the void.

"You goddamned..." Shirou shakily began to try and crawl to his feet. Prana pulsed out of his wounds like a live circuit, and a blast of power exploded from his body. Electricity crackled along his body as his wounds began to swiftly heal. "MOTHERFUCKER!"

The redhead shot down towards Myrddin - vision going red. His legs blurred beneath him as he tore down the most straightforward path to the boy.

"That's the spirit!" The twelve year old raised a hand up to his right eyebrow, and curled up three of his fingers. With the pointer and index finger, he lightly tapped his forehead and pointed at the bullheaded teenager. "A suicidal spirit, but one nonetheless!"

The rocks, boulders, and dirt hovering around him shattered into smaller bits. They flowed into a singular and massive stream of earth that shot towards the speedy teenager. With only a simple thought, Myrddin twisted the front of the irresistible wave of earth into a massive fist.

"Incoming!" The twelve year old shouted. He raised his right arm, and flexed. "Be a hard man!"

'That's...it!' Shirou's eyes widened in shock. Reinforcement enhanced aspects. How the fuck had he ignored the fact he had outrun a goddamned **lightning bolt**?

Shirou let out a roar, digging deeper into his magic circuits that he ever thought possible. The circuits within his body almost leapt at his call, and they all simultaneously flared. His temperature shot up to fatal temperatures instantly, but the redhead had no time for worrying about such things.

They were inside of his mind, and he wasn't going to be losing!

However, that thought came at the exact moment the fist came crashing down into Shirou with killing force.

Silence descended on the void.

"Um...did he expect thinking to be a free action?" Myrddin wondered, raising a finger to gnaw on it slightly worriedly.

* * *

Shirou gasped as he sat up. Around him were the Spartanly decorated walls of the Taiga Dojo. He glanced around confusedly.

'Wasn't I battling with a preteen Wizard to the death just a few moments ago?'

"Hello! Is everyone doing fine?" A cheerful shout immediately from behind Shirou made him wildly rise to his feet.

The Tiger had descended.

Taiga was smilingly gazing at Shirou. She was playfully posing with with her right hand raised and opened to show her palm at him, and her left one coyly held behind her back.

"I-" Shirou was promptly interrupted as Taiga continued as if he wasn't there.

"An hour of gaming a day, for all you who died so easily. Bullet shooters are serious business," Taiga tutted, waving a finger at Shirou. She brightened up again, though. "This is the assistance corner that solves all your problems in a flash, the Tiger Dojo!"

"This...this is destroying the mood!" Shirou shouted, feeling his hotblooded realization of what he had done fading away.

"Yes, well..." Taiga pondered seriously. Suddenly she perked up, and pointed at Shirou's face. "DISTRACTION, SENIOR STUDENT!"

"ONIICHAN!" Ilyasviel's shout came out of nowhere. Shirou turned just in time to catch ten year old version of Ilyasviel launch herself straight at his head. Thoughts fled his mind at the gym uniform she was wearing, and suddenly the redhead had himself a face full of purple bloomers, and a pair of thin white thighs wrapped around his neck.

"Wait, wha...mpgh?" Shirou rapidly pinwheeled his arms and came crashing down to the dojo ground.

"Excellent work, senior student!" Taiga cheered, giving the young girl a thumbs up.

"Osu!" Ilya beamed, and matched the thumbs up. However, she didn't let up from where she was so smartly perched on top of Shirou's face. "Welcome to the main foundation of your world, Oniichan! No...you could even call this the main foundation of all the worlds!"

"...oooh!" Taiga roared her approval. "Yes! That's right!"

Shirou unfortunately couldn't quite find it in himself to argue. It was getting hard to breath where he was after all. He reached up and gripped his hands around Ilya's thighs to try and pry her off.

Panic began to set in when he found that either he had gotten ridiculously weak, or Ilya had hit the gym.

"Noo! This isn't the place for that sort of things, oniichan~" Ilya went bright red. Yet still remained where she was sitting.

"Shirou-kun has become a dangerous carnivore...how wonderful that we get to keep him here for ourselves!" Taiga happily tutted.

The redhead, seeing black spots begin to form from lack of air, was forced to rely on his latest discovery.

'_Henshin!_' Shirou gamely ignored the pain of his circuits activating, and flooded his body with prana and envisioned strength. Heat flared outwards from his body, and he gripped Ilya's thighs once again and pried them apart.

Ilya let out a squeak as her legs spread out, and she was lifted into the air.

Shirou explosively let out the breath he had been holding all along. He furiously took in fresh oxygen through his nose. "What's wrong with you two? I could've died!"

"Oh ho, how charmingly naïve, Shirou-kun." Taiga tittered. "There's no more Dead Ends after this. You just got squished after all!"

"I would have moved if you just said so~" Ilya pouted down at Shirou.

"...I would have had to speak directly into your..." Shirou flatly began. The faux innocence the silver haired girl dangling above him melted into a lascivious smirk.

"...yeah," Ilya giggled perversely. A sharp rebuke was on its way as Taiga's shinai smartly rapped on the back of the young girl's head.

"What a shameful display, senior student!" Taiga bemoaned. She shook her hands up to the heavens. "You must be **subtle**. **Subtle**!"

"...right, well I'm out of here." Shirou hopped up to his feet, and set down the bite sized version of his girlfriend down next to Taiga. He turned, and started heading out towards the exit to the Dojo, but was suddenly held back.

"Wait, oniichan!"

Shirou sighed, but saw that it was a serious looking Taiga that had caught his hand.

"Seriously, though...we're here to help." Taiga gave Shirou a tiny smile. "Senior student went about it wrong, but you realized what you did, right?"

"What...?" Shirou blinked at her and the equally stone faced Ilya in surprise.

"Reinforcement. You used it to pull Ilya off you when you didn't have enough strength to do it normally." Taiga continued to gaze into the depths of his eyes. "Physical traits aren't the only things it can enhance."

"Then...it's possible?" Shirou wondered.

"We 're inside your mind, silly! Of course you can!" Ilya grinned at him. "While I prefer you spent this session with me practicing our skinship, we bought you this extra time for a reason!"

"Alright! I'm heading out then!" Shirou clenched his free hand into a fist.

Taiga let go of Shirou, and stepped back to stand besides Ilya. "Just remember...if you yourself cannot beat him."

"Just visualize something that can, and reinforce its existence!" Shirou nodded.

"All right, well done." Taiga smirked. "Just remember, unexpected deaths like this are set up all over the place, so you'll have to be careful."

"You can't save at choices, unfortunately." Ilya's red eyes dimmed a bit. "But I'll always be here for you oniichan!"

Shirou awkwardly laughed. "I'm already seeing...you?" He scratched the back of his head.

"Hahah...but no, seriously bro." Ilya light and airy laughter darkened towards the end, red eyes glittering. "I'll be waiting here for you when you ditch the Christmas cake."

An ominous chill ran down Shirou's spine.

"Well..." Taiga lightly reached over, and slapped the back of Ilya's head. "You'd best get out of here, Shirou-kun. Just remember that you'll always have the Tiger Dojo to fall back on!"

"Bai bai, oniichan!" Ilya cheerfully waved at Shirou's retreating form. He opened the door, and stepped outside the dojo.

Taiga breathed out, blinking her brown eyes and revealing sky blue ones. She stared down at the silver haired girl in the gym uniform. "I know you're hungry and everything, but at least don't try and ravage the boy."

The silver haired girl's red eyes dulled, and her expression went flat.

The older woman shrugged, blonde streaks running through her hair. "Oh well, you're just a temp anyway, see if I care if you don't want to listen to old lady Viviane. Not like she would know a thing or two about incubi and succubi."

The silver haired girl quirked her head curiously up at the older woman.

"Well, just try and control yourself better next time, Len. I'd rather not get in trouble with Arcueid if I can help it." The earth spirit shuddered a bit. She waved as mists began to consume the Tiger Dojo, and it faded back into the wild and fey nature of the domain of the fairies.

"Fufufu. What an interesting boy Myrddin found this time." Viviane beamed, feeling Avalon return Shirou back to his mind properly.

* * *

"Alright, you two understand what we have to do, then?" Archer had gotten permission from both sisters. He had then used a low level hypnosis to insert the ritual into both of their minds. Meanwhile, Rider was anxiously smiling at the three of them from within the summoning circle that both sisters had redrawn.

"Yes I do!" Sakura excitedly licked her lips. Her heart hammered, and her hands clenched at her sides at getting a chance to perform a ritual spell with her sister. Even if she only had a small part, and she was only really standing around, she had been allowed by her sister and her servant to chant with them.

"Of course. These sort of things are way too easy for me," Rin huffed. She raised a finger and threateningly pointed at Rider as soon as she saw the older woman begin to smirk. "I'll show you all that a mere tsundere can never reach the heights of a master of all the elements. Of an Average One!"

'She's totally butthurt,' Archer smugly thought, watching Rin throw her head back.

'Poor oneechan,' Sakura sadly thought, watching Rin cover her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Well, that's just an unfortunate naming scheme, isn't it? Or should I say *appropriate* name for you, Master's sister?" Medusa smiling jab took the air out of Rin's attempt at replicating a noblewoman's laugh.

"Y-you...I'll end you!" Rin roared, and leapt toward Medusa. Archer calmly snatched her out of mid-air, and allowed her to dangle from his hands.

"This is rebellion! Treason! Don't be deceived by those breasts!" Rin weakly batted at Archer's broad shoulders while the man calmly walked her over next to Sakura. "The breasts are a lie, Archer! A lie!"

"Yes, I assume they would be considered a lie by an Average Girl, huh," Medusa mused.

"Stop baiting the killer shark." Archer once again snatched Rin out of mid-air, and calmly walked her back to her original starting point.

"Rider!" Medusa snapped at attention at Sakura's sharp tone. The girl's plum eyes narrowed slightly, and the purple haired woman nervously gulped. "Don't be rude to oneechan. We're guests at her house."

"My apologies, Rin." Medusa immediately bowed. There was a tiny smirk on her face though.

The twin tailed teenager blinked a few times, and looked between Sakura and Medusa.

"Yeah...you best be watching what you're saying," Rin weakly muttered, feeling like she had lost this round despite being apologized too.

"Or she'll sic her little sister on you," Archer glibly added. Medusa's smirk grew more pronounced, and Rin turned betrayed eyes on him.

"Win your own battles, Master." The white haired man clicked his tongue disappointingly. "You don't always have the Bountiful One to rely on."

"Hahah!" Medusa chortled, slapping her thigh. Sakura's face and ears went pink.

"...gah!" Rin clutched at her left arm with her right hand, taking two steps back.

"T-they didn't mean it like that! Don't pay attention to them!" Sakura walked up to Rin, and held her oldest sisters' shoulders in concern. Seeing that the dazed look on Rin's face wasn't fading away, the younger girl hurriedly rattled her brain for something to say.

"Some men like legs! Long and silky legs! People like Urobuchi-senpai!" Sakura had never been a very sociable girl, since she didn't had nearly enough experience in the area of interpersonal dynamics. Unfortunately for her, she decided to pick the absolute worst time to follow in the footsteps of people she knew.

By following Taiga's lead in being unrepentantly honest.

So Sakura talked. She talked long, and at great length, about what the boy's of the school really thought about Rin Tohsaka and her legs. She talked about what sort of depravities only teenager boys thought about when they were alone or in groups.

Or when they were near the strange girl that tended to not speak up.

It was the most eye opening moment of Rin's life.

It was a Saturday for Sakura.

"So...see? You have your charming point too...eh, she fainted?" Sakura knelt down by her pale and twitching sister.

"...maybe I should rethink my wardrobe." Medusa eyed her own short dress distrustfully now. More powerful than those pathetic little boys she might be, but that stuff was just creepy.

"...was it something I said?" The teenager wondered, blinking curiously over at the only male in the room.

Archer facepalmed.

* * *

Shirou found himself staring up at a tiny speck of light far above. Glancing backward was no help, as the Tiger Dojo had completely vanished, leaving behind a smooth and polished stone wall.

Further investigation showed that the pit he had found himself standing at the bottom had no way to climb the sheer walls.

"...well, then let's mosey." Shirou glanced at his fists, and then up at his end goal. In a single motion, Shirou threw his right arm at a diagonal to his left, rotating clockwise until the arm was fully extended to his right. He then quickly pulled his right arm into his waist, while extending his left arm at a diagonal to his right. "_Henshin!_"

The pit flared with golden light as he pushed himself to his limits and beyond. Electricity spat out of his body through his pores. Shirou reared back, and threw a punch with his right hand straight at the wall ahead of him. The stone beneath his fist simply ceased to exist, Avalon fighting to keep his body from following after the wall.

Having gained a new handhold, Shirou breathed out, and smashed his left hand higher up the wall with another shout. The redhead's pace steadily began to increase, and he kept smashing new handholds into the walls as he pulled himself to the sky above. Blood began to pour out of his mangled fists like a river, but Avalon quickly mended and replaced the blood while smoke began to puff off his clothing.

Shirou responded to the new situation by smashing his fists into the earth and hauling himself further upwards. When his shirt began to actually add even more heat to his already fatal temperature, he calmly reached behind him and ripped it off his body, sending it and a healthy amount of sweat falling away from him.

The redhead flicked his hand, sending an annoying amount of blood away from his fists, then resumed punching his way up to the light.

* * *

Archer moved down by Rin's side, and gently shook her. "Master, get up."

"G'way," Rin mumbled, ineffectually swiping at him.

"...there's a camera being aimed up your skirt at this exact moment," Medusa helpfully supplied.

Rin shrieked and sat ramrod straight, holding her skirt down between her legs as she furiously looked around.

"Reinforcing trauma isn't very helpful," Archer chided.

"Nonsense. It builds character," Medusa responded, tapping her lips thoughtfully. "At least that's what my sisters used to tell me whenever they broke out the punishment rods."

Sakura nodded knowingly, and the other two in the room with the two purple haired females glanced at each other nervously.

"Well!" Rin clapped, and hopped to her feet. "What's a little mindfuck between family." She quickly hugged Sakura around her shoulders, and glanced over at Medusa. "So, let's get this show on the road and all the other prerequisite lines. Archer, count us down!"

The white haired man nodded. He held up three fingers, and pulled them down as he closed his eyes.

'_Henshin!_' Archer closed his eyes. He connected the channel between Tarnhelm and his Master using himself as the conductor. His last finger dropped down. He opened his eyes, and the hypnosis on the two girls triggered

"_It came from somewhere beyond the farthest reaches of the world know,_" Rin began to sing, and held up a hand towards Rider.

"_...like a creature of shadow._" A look of shock was on Sakura's face as she smoothly supported her elder sister. Her eyes locked onto Archer's, and she tried to convince him to stop the ritual. He merely shook his head.

'It's time,' Archer grimly thought.

"_It came to mock us, for we are so naïve that we can't comprehend it,_" Rin faintly smirked, and it was matched by Medusa's own look.

Medusa remained silent. 'Get your easy hits in for now, Rin.'

"_...and truly, we are fragile and small._" Sakura closed her eyes, following the prompting of the ritual. _"I cannot hold onto the truth, as it slips right through my fingers like a picture that is made of smoke. I don't know how long I will last, because my body is so weak that I may crumble away."_

"_Uninstall, uninstall..._" Both sisters began to sing as one, the mana in the air reacting to Rin's magic circuit.

…

"Was that really all you had to bring to bear, kid?" Myrddin muttered in disappointment. "Well...I guess I will have to wait until Arturia's next inca..."

A rumble faintly was heard beneath the stone fist.

"Ah...what's this?" The twelve year old's eyes narrowed.

…

"_I was told that I am just a single speck of dust, and cannot be more._" Sakura's voice trembled slightly. Medusa turned her head to gaze at Archer in surprise. Her lips immediately curled down into a scowl. "_But I do not understand or grasp the true meaning._"

"_Uninstall, uninstall._" Rin gazed over at Sakura in confusion. The younger girl stilled herself for the next part.

"_I no longer have a choice but to pretend..._" Sakura began. Rin smoothly picked up from there.

"_I am brave._" Her words were strong, and Sakura leeched off that strength.

"_For a soldier has to be brave._" Sakura closed her eyes, and both sisters once again repeated the song.

"_Uninstall._" Sakura was shaking despite her best efforts. A gleam of understanding began to enter Rin's eyes. Just as Rin took her hand, the magic circle beneath Medusa began to glow brightly.

…

The massive fist was flung high into the air as a loud crack tore through the heavens. Half of the stone began to crumble into pieces as Shirou's figure briefly lit on top of the stone fist. Surrounded in an aura of prana, his eyes lit up from within, burning gold.

The void around them began to swiftly lighten. Shirou's legs tensed beneath him, and with another loud crack, he vanished from in front of Myrddin's eyes. The Wizard grinned, and drew all the earth around him into a field crushing stone.

…

Both sister's voices began to mix together as Sakura held tightly onto Rin's hands. Archer continued to gaze at Medusa placating.

"They need to realize this," He mouthed to Medusa silently.

"_Our unseen thoughts have been growing ever sharper, unbeknownst to us, deep within the subconscious..._"

"_But an inkling of what has been occurring is revealed to me as I hear the restless monsters when I sleep..._" Rin felt her eyes begin to water, gazing into the depths of Sakura's eyes.

"_Now my heart is empty and numb, save for an unrelenting impulse to destroy all things that I can see. It is born from all of the pain, for I have lost the will to choose the day I'll crumble away..._" Sakura blinked in surprise and turned as her and Rin's voice were joined by Medusa as well. A thick tone of camaraderie was over the Gorgon's words, even as her voice trailed behind the sister's words.

"_Uninstall, uninstall..._" All three females sang together.

…

Several smaller stone fists came flying for Shirou, seeking him out despite the speeds he was attaining. In fact, it was making it easier for the earth to seek him out, as wherever he zipped past dug up more dirt and rock, which soared towards him.

The redhead leaned forwards against the winds whipping his hair and cheeks back. Three sharp spears made of carved up rock came for him from the northwest, north, and northeast. Shirou slammed his hands down onto the ground before him

The momentum of his rush, combined with the sudden stop sent Shirou flipping forward. His shoulders made horrid wrenching sounds, and he just knew that they had been rendered useless, but that was pointless for now. Having soared over the three spears, and hearing them smash into each other, Shirou zipped ahead with another titanic explosion where he had just been standing.

Myrddin's eyes showed the faintest hint of approval. He gestured, gathering the earth around him into another massive fist, and fired it straight at Shirou.

…

"_If there's no one who can take this burden in my place...Then there's no choice, but to take my simple life and Uninstall, Uninstall,_" Both Sakura and Medusa sang to both Rin and Archer. Rin and Archer had stony gazes as they continued.

"_And it makes me want to end it all with my own hands. Is it wrong? Surely it's alright to want to uninstall."_ The magic circle began to spit forth prana, which began to race up Medusa's body towards Tarnhelm.

'Now...sympathize with the history!' Archer pointed his right arm at the artifact that was shining on top of Rider's head. The moment Archer flared his circuits, he had a flash of an unending tidal wave of stone rushing towards 'him'.

Yet 'he' felt elated as 'he' rushed to directly challenge them.

"_Uninstall_." The white haired man invoked the spell, and Medusa was wrapped in a curtain of silver light, blinding them all.

…

A feeling of helpless sorrow surged through Shirou. Yet it felt external to him while he twisted, briefly alighting on the endless attacks. He felt Avalon knit his shoulders to return control to his limply flopping arms.

A large stone smashed into his shoulder, sending the redhead spinning, and three fists buried themselves in his gut, cheek, and right arm. Shirou resisted the incredible force arranged against him for a few moments, but was ultimate launched into the air.

'_Uninstall, uninstall..._'

"Is charging all you can do?" Myrddin questioned. "Your Reinforcement has improved in leaps and bounds, but it isn't enough to challenge my power, Shirou!"

'_I was told that I am just a single speck of dust and cannot be more._'

Shirou sank even deeper into his magic circuits. Only Avalon's aid kept him from destroying his very soul. Golden lightning spat out of the open wound on his right arm, shoving a bone that was sticking out of it back into his body.

Kaleidoscopic lights danced before his eyes. Both of his shoulders cracked, and feeling returned to his body. Shirou somehow managed to gain control of his descent, twisting his body as he flew down towards Myrddin, who was simply staring upwards at him.

'_But I do not understand or grasp the true meaning._'

Five stone spears launched themselves at him. Shirou remembered his lesson on how foreign prana reacted with Reinforcement. Shirou stabbed his left fingers into his wound, gouging himself as he dug into the open wound on his arm. Heat and blood poured out of his arm as blood poured into his cupped left hand.

Once he gathered enough, Shirou charged the liquid with his od and flung it out in a screen at the two spears that were in range. A Magus battle was about who possessed magic with the most history behind it.

The two spears froze in mid-air as Shirou's prana, manifesting in the form of electricity, coursed around the two weapons. The redhead snatched an arm out, and grabbed onto one of them with his left arm and kicked hard, swinging himself over two more spears. The last once swept past and tore through his side, but Shirou considered it an acceptable loss.

Well, Myrddin would beat him no matter what. He knew magic while Shirou didn't. The boy was scarily experienced in its use as well, but...

'_Uninstall, uninstall._'

That didn't mean Shirou couldn't imagine that he could beat Myrddin, and in this world that was formed out of his own mind – that was enough to bring him victory. Shirou shouted a challenge down at Myrddin as he swiftly descended.

'_I have no choice but to pretend that I am a warrior who knows no fear. Uninstall!_'

For a second, the golden electricity surrounding his body went bright white. Traces of a rainbow hue began to seep out. Images flashed behind his eyes. Stone spears and rocks and fists smashed into his figure, tearing through his clothing, but bouncing or scrapping off Shirou's body.

"_Access the records!_"

"You can't win with just fists alone, Shirou!" Myrddin blurred backwards. Shirou came down past the Wizard fist first. The earth beneath Shirou sunk, his fist tearing a massive sinkhole a hundred meters wide. As the ground shifted beneath the redhead's feet, Shirou tensed and shot towards Myrddin.

"_Found_."

Shirou felt his back jerk when the stones that he had pulled up with his last attack smashed into him from behind. Falling down onto the ground, the redhead turned and briefly alighted onto the surface with his left hand before shoving off and...

"World 2, Varient 2 – Avalon, All is a Distant Utopia!" Shirou's shouted a challenge at Myrddin, his eyes flaring sheer gold.

"_Sympathize with its history!_"

"...what?" Myrddin staggered in mid-air when Shirou's body...slid a half step out of synch with reality. His attacks phased through the teen, and Shirou flickered out of sight with another crack of displaced air. Before the Wizard could react, Shirou reappeared above the twelve year old, hammering Myrddin downwards with both fists.

The blow was monstrous. The twelve year old was fired downwards like a cruise missile. Shirou made sure to send him flying into the sinkhole he had created. Another plume of dirt erupted upwards when Myrddin crashed down into it.

Shirou tensed, remaining standing in mid-air as all the stone around him paused.

[**Spell break.**] The earth that was hovering around the redhead came crashing down to the ground, and Shirou breathed out a sigh of relief. The redhead slowly walked down toward where he had sent Myrddin reeling.

The young boy was staring up at Shirou with wide eyes and a large grin on his face.

"Kid!" Myrddin beamed up at Shirou. He watched the teenager calmly walk down from the sky above. "I'm twelve years old and what is this?" The boy merrily gestured with his left hand up and down Shirou's body.

'Not that you should be acting so surprised,' Shirou thought in amusement, seeing that Myrddin was sitting on what appeared to be mid-air as well.

"_Hax Sign: You Just Plain Fucking Lose,_" Shirou retorted with a grin, causing Myrddin to clutch at his sides as he let out a sharp bark of laughter.

"Ooh. I like you. We're going to meet again." Myrddin wiped at his eyes.

"What...?" Shirou blinked in surprise. "I thought you were only giving me three lessons?"

"Sorry, boss. Camelot is like the Mob. Once you're in- you ain't getting out." Myrddin had a impish smile on his face.

Shirou's eyes narrowed. He took one more step towards the boy, but vanished as Myrddin lightly waved him off. "Oooh boy. This is going to be a **fun** century!" The boy eagerly rubbed his hands together, staring off at the distance happily.

The void began to lighten ever so slightly, revealing the outlines of massive objects in a brightening sky above. Several towering items dominated the horizon, but they couldn't be quite made out at the moment.

"Arturia! Wait for me!" Myrddin cackled. His form blurred, then vanished as well.

…

Medusa let out a shriek as Tarnhelm glared bright green on top of her head. A dome of white light erupted around her from the ground below, shielding her from seeing the others. Medusa felt her very sense of self burn away from what seemed to be an endless amount of power pouring down like water from the Noble Phantasm she was wearing.

As the prana infused Medusa's body, it burned away everything it touched. Her skin released a tangible darkness out into the white field around her. Thick and noxious curses from the gods of old, the hate and sins of the humans that had created her, and her old grudges and fears bled out of her.

Medusa kept screaming. She collapsed to the ground as Tarnhelm flared. The solid substance pouring out of her rose, and was absorbed into the pure white field around Medusa, staining it in lieu of the woman.

Medusa's Noble Phantasm, Gorgon Breaker, began to crack and shatter as her soul no longer quite fit the requirements for its use anymore. With a heaving spasm, the mask shattered completely, spinning off into the spiraling, white field, and taking the heavy curse of her Mystic Eyes with it.

The Gorgon felt Blood Fort Andromeda's ability also vanish from her grasp, along with Bellerophon as she began to feel her body shift. Fear pulsed deep in her hear, but her loyal friend Pegasus remained a comforting presence within her mind. Her limbs shortened, and she gasped as her mind began to burn.

Medusa's sense of self began to sharply expand far beyond. While before she had only the tiniest inkling of the humans of the era, thanks to her low level divinity trait, now it felt like she was almost hypersensitive. Even through the impenetrable field of prana she was held within, she feel both Sakura and Rin as well as if she was standing right next to them.

Medusa could also see an aura of strong and pure belief around the two swirl like a mantle of stars. It nearly made the Gorgon break down in tears at the beauty. It had been such a long time since she had such a powerful connection with humans...

Medusa's quivering body finally stopped twitching. The last the darkness was drawn out of her, and into the swirling barrier around her. The final trait of light on the dome was splashed dark. It began to crack open like a rotten egg once the dome was completely dark.

The young girl raised a hand up to her eyes, and marveled at the lack of purple tint to the world as the toxic prana collapsed around her feet. Medusa offered the boggling trio standing before her a heartfelt, and content smile.

Medusa, now all of fourteen years old, shyly clutched at the pristine white lace dress she wore down to her knees. An aura of majesty and serenity hung around her bare shoulders like a tangible cloak. Her square amethyst pupils shone with moisture, and her lips trembled.

"H-hello."

Unfortunately, that's when the earthquake struck.

* * *

Fuyuki City trembled from the base of the ground to its tallest skyscrapers. Throughout the city, the four points of power which had been designed as the summoning locations for the Grand Holy Grail furiously erupted like volcanoes, unleashing wave after wave of intangible mana into the city. The system running the Holy Grail War went mad trying to quantify the return of a Divine Spirit through one of its Classes.

Rin and Sakura shouted, the cavern beneath their home becoming bright white. Both Archer and Medusa threw themselves over the two when the roof of their home was launched into the skies above as the summoning and power surge in the ley lines triggered several of Rin's experiments.

...

A Witch at Ryuudou Temple gaped in horror and glee. She eagerly siphoned off the massive wells of power erupting out of the temple. The monks of the temple, sensitive to the forces of the earth thanks to their training, collapsed. Their minds overwhelmed by the amounts of power being unleashed.

This wonderful power would definitely allow her to win the War!

Yet the blood of her grandfather, Helios, burned within her. She sensed something that both disturbed and intrigued her. Another Divine Spirit from her era had descended on the War. One that she knew somewhere deep inside would diametrically oppose her.

The rate of absorption increased at the thought.

Kuzuki Souchiro merely crossed his arms in front of his chest. He watched over Caster as the blue haired woman floated high in the skies with her cloak spread wide, drawing in the power blasting upwards from the lake in the back.

'I hope Ryuudou-kun is alright.' Kuzuki faintly worried. The ground beneath his feet shifted a little bit, but not nearly as badly as what was happening down in Fuyuki proper, where he observed buildings collapse, and the earth rise in parts of it.

…

Shirou's eyes snapped open. A massive chunk of the roof above came down for his head. He rolled out of the way in time to avoid getting a chunk of concrete slammed into his face, but was quickly driven backward towards the reinforced section of the workshop.

He leapt as the ground above groaned, and was just barely able to dive into the steel reinforced section when the workshop was crushed under a hell of a lot of earth.

…

A hive of worms squirmed out of debris of the Matou home, and were quickly swept down by an overwhelming surge of sewer water when several parts of the sewers collapsed under the earthquake.

Zouken didn't have quite enough concentration to focus. For a single moment, he could clearly sense Sakura's presence. However, that was blanked away under another agonizing blast of prana that was tainted with the essence of a Divine Spirit of Nurturing.

…

"Father! Wake up!"

Caren hurriedly used every technique she had been taught at her disposal to save her father's life in their half collapsed Church. Blood ran down her face in rivers, even as she pumped her hands up against her father's chest.

Her father's left side had been shattered when a wooden beam had come crashing down on him, catching him unawares when the dragon point beneath their church had gone mad. The only good thing about the whole affair was that it had completed blanketed the area's corruption, allowing her near her father without her own body shutting down.

Caren checked Kotomine's pulse. Having found nothing, Caren invoked her own magic circuits. he attempted to heal him using magecraft, but a cracked golden gauntlet lashed out, and grabbed Caren around the arm. The white haired nun stared upwards at a pair of crimson eyes.

"Don't..." An arrogant looking man, covered with dirt and debris, smiled at Caren haughtily. Half of his face was a ruined, burnt out wreck, but before the white haired woman's eyes, it began to heal. The rest of his armor was no better, but it was also mending itself before Caren's shocked eyes. "That power is bad for us short term."

Kotomine flopped like a fish with gasping coughs.

"...but it has wonderful effects once it runs its course." The blond smiled sharkishly at the nun with his healed face.

* * *

_Wise up!_

Saver

Spirit: Medusa

Master: Sakura Tohsaka

Alignment: Neutral Good

Strength: D

Mana: A+

Endurance: C

N. Phantasm: Unknown

Agility: D

Luck: A+

Class Skills:

Magic Resistance: A

Riding: B

Personal Skills:

Independent Action: B

Divinity: A++

Noble Phantasms:

Unknown.


	14. Chapter 14

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 14: Animate Dead

"Alpha team is flying around the forest zone situated southwest of Fuyuki City, where we're searching for the helicopter of our compatriots, Bravo Team, who disappeared in the middle of our mission." The skies were darkening with thick clouds sweeping in from the east.

The sound of helicopter blades furiously spinning high above continued to drown out everything but the officer's thoughts, even as he continued his audio report into his headset.

"Bizarre murder cases are currently occurring in Fuyuki City in the aftermath of the earthquake. There are outlandish reports of families being attacked by a group of about ten people. Victims were apparently eaten." The man tightly gripped the controls of the helicopter, and they passed over the darkening forest below once again.

* * *

"Go! Go! Go!" Minori Mitsuzuri gasped, rushing into the building. Animalistic snarls roared behind the auburn haired teenager. He dove into his apartment complex through one of the backdoors, joining his classmates and sister in safety.

Issei briefly gazed out of the door towards the empty eyed and bloody mouthed figure rushing towards him for a moment longer, before shutting the door, and slamming his back up against it. Both Minori and Ayako slammed their backs against the door as well, and they was almost shoved away when fists banged against the steel door.

The cries of rage and hunger rang up behind the door. Issei Ryuudou, Ayaka Sajyou, and the Mitsuzuri siblings breathlessly waited to see if the noises being created by the man trying to shove the three of them away from the door attracted any attention from further in the apartment complex.

The bespectacled Ayaka nervously gripped onto a knife that was currently about as bloody and coated with filth as her white sweater. The dark haired girl looked lost and confused, worrying the other three as she turned the knife about in the dark hallway. The four fearfully stared out into the dark corridor ahead.

Issei, Ayako, and Minori could feel that the strength of their attacker was waning.

Minori shared a gaze with Ayako, and silently gestured for her to go join the other girl. Mostly because of worry at how the dark haired girl was growing increasingly fidgety. She shifted her own frayed stocking clad legs about beneath her short black skirt.

"Go distract her," Minori silently mouthed to his sister. Ayako faintly nodded, and pushed away from the door to move over towards Ayaka. Unlike the dark haired girl, she had sheathed her knife on a strap over her left shoulder for quick drawing.

"Ayaka..." The auburn haired Archery captain gently breathed out towards the frightened girl. Ayaka snapped her gaze over towards Ayako with a mix of hysteria, as well as a partly delusional glint to her eyes. For a moment, Ayako almost thought the dark haired girl would stab her, but it didn't come to pass.

"Ayako..." The girl looked over at her knife like she was confused as to why it was in her grasp. She flicked a new bit of gore off it, and sheathed it at her hip once the confusion in her eyes went away.

The other three breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's going on out there?" Ayaka whimpered, looking over at the boys.

The faint vibrations of the steel door were slowing down beneath Issei and Minori's backs.

"Clearly people have decided to take advantage of the aftermath of the earthquake." Issei nervously adjusted his own glasses. The blue haired teenager shakily shifted in place, letting the brown leather coat he was wearing over his own dark t-shirt to settle over his shoulders. He had a long gouge along his left jean leg from an earlier attack.

Minori balefully gazed at over at Issei. The auburn haired boy had decided to go ahead and spike up his hair for today's double date, and was currently wearing a black leather jacket over a white t-shirt. Like Ayaka, it was also stained in blood. Unlike Issei, his own jeans hadn't been sliced up. He had been fortunate in not getting snapped up like Issei or their late guide had been.

"Then why not explain **why they were eating other people,**" Minori harshly whispered.

"...demons. Demons must have broken loose from the earth."

Ayako tensed, while Ayaka let out a soft whimper.

A soft shuffling could be heard further down the hall. All four teenagers flinched. The two girls drew their knives. At the same time that they heard the noise up ahead, the two boys felt the pressure up against their backs go away.

Minori and Issei gazed at each other, and stepped away from the door. Minori reached for his own weapon.

When the earthquake had first hit, all four had agreed to come to Ayaka's apartment complex since it had been the closest to where they had attempted to go out on their dates. On their harrowing journey, they had witnessed terrible things between the shattered streets and collapsed buildings, the worst being the cannibals that seemingly rose from the ruins left by the frighteningly powerful earthquake.

'Don't think zombies. Don't think zombies.' Ayako nervously gulped, sweat streaking down her face. By comparison, her brother looked slightly more put together. The two glasses wearing teenagers both appeared stone cold serious.

Minori slipped out a bloody crowbar, and Issei tightened his hands into fists, smoothing entering a martial arts stance. The person slowly revealed himself in the dim hallway.

"...is that you Mr. Kirijo?" Ayaka's cold look faded a bit. The hunched over silhouette of a man paused in place, and the silhouette of a cane fell from his grasp. Seeing no immediate threat, Ayaka began to let the tension bleed out of her. "What are you doing out here? It's danger..."

Minori quickly put a halt to that, laying hand on the dark haired girl's shoulder. He firmly shook his head as he hefted his crowbar.

Ayaka bit her lower lip, and raised her knife hand again. Minori gave Ayako a look, and gestured for her to step back besides Issei. His older sister nodded, and lingered behind as both he and Ayaka moved deeper into the darkened hallway.

They could hear soft squelching noises the closer they came to the stationary man. A thin tuff of grey hair fell off of an otherwise bald and wrinkled head. The elderly man was slowly crouching low to the ground to try and retrieve his cane.

Squelch...squelch...squelch...

'What is that disgusting noise?' Ayaka thought, briefly glancing past the warmly dressed elderly man, and towards the open door of his darkened apartment. The old man finally managed to get his cane, and slowly begin to rise.

If anything, the sounds grew louder as the elderly man finally raised his head to glance at the two. His eyes were completely whitened with only hints of grey within them. His jaw hung slackly, drool freely pouring off his exposed gums.

A wiggling worm continued to devour the soft flesh of his left cheek. It paused, and lifted its bulbous head to gaze at the two for a moment. It suddenly let out a terrific shriek, and the old man suddenly moved from standing to rushing at the two in a blink of an eye, his cane dropping besides him to loudly clank on the ground.

"Mov-ugh!" Both Ayaka and Minori nearly bowled Ayako and Issei over after the old man smashed two hideously powerful punches into their chests. Both of the brunettes gagged and gasped for air, nearly suffocating as it felt like their chest had been caved in with the strikes.

"Fffffff-" The old man gagged, the worm that had been chewing on its cheek falling off in the man's swift attack. It landed on the ground loudly and wetly. It squirmed uselessly about as the old man leapt once again towards Ayako and Issei.

"fRIeNDs-!" Shinji Matou's voice screamed out of the old man's throat. Both of the standing teenagers tensed at the sound of their school friend throat.

"Don't listen to this monster's words." Issei grit his teeth, his blue eyes flashing mercilessly.

'Oh god. Not again!' Ayako's mouth filled with blood as she bit through her lower lip. She joined Issei in rushing the old man. The blue haired teenager was like a river, moving around the elderly man's crushing blows to hammer his own into the monster.

Ayako darted in, and quickly stabbed at the man whenever Issei opened the elderly man up to strikes. The old man began to slow with each black spurt of blood that was slashed or stabbed out of their attacker. Yet both she and Issei knew what it was going to take to finish this off.

Both Minori and Ayaka had been the ones that had been doing it up until now.

In a way, neither of the two older teenagers really wanted to take up the grisly duty themselves, but it as finally time for the upperclassmen to go ahead, and join their younger brethren in staining their hands.

"Go get it!" Issei commanded Ayako, swaying away from the elderly man's grasping swing. His leg lashed out, and kicked at the side of the elderly man's knee. It loudly cracked, sending the man into a kneeling position. Ayako rushed to her little brothers side, and Issei twisted his hand to cave in the old man's nose with a single thrust of his left palm.

The old man fell backwards, collapsing to the ground in a spray of blood.

Issei's heart skipped a beat at what he had just done to the old man. He staggered backwards, feeling a disgustingly heady rush from the act of using the skills taught at his dojo as a tool of murder instead of one for self defense.

'I've become a monster, Souichirou-sensei,' the blue haired teenager morbidly thought. Yet he refused to keep his eyes from moving away from his fallen opponent, even with his bloody and sinful fists in front of him.

"Ayako!" The student body president of Homurabara Gakuen saw a twitch in the center mass of the old man's body.

"I've got it!" The auburn haired girl picked up the crowbar from Minori's side, and flung it towards Issei. Ayako swiftly followed after the thrown weapon, holding her knife ready.

The twitching became more and more pronounced until a segmented worm that was half as long, and a quarter as wide as the old man, erupted out of the torso of the corpse. It let out another shriek, and rushed for Issei.

Only to be met by steel as Issei caught the crowbar with one hand, and swung hard for the monster. The beast let out a howl of pain through its bloody maw, and smashed into the side of the hallway. Part of its head caved in from Issei's intial blow; while the rest of its head was swiftly chopped off by a furious looking Ayako as she brought her knife down.

Ayako gave its thrashing body a few more angry stabs. With each stab, ichor and the creature's internal organs were ripped out of its milky white flesh. Covered in the worm's gore, tears silently ran down Ayako's eyes.

"When, through intense propensities, we are wandering in the Sangsara,  
Along the bright light-path of the simultaneously-born Wisdom,  
May the heroic Knowledge-Holders lead us...

Issei didn't tell her anything as he started walking towards the old man.

"May the bands of the Mothers, the Dakinis, be our rear guard.  
May we be saved from the fearful narrow passageway of the Bardo,  
May we be placed in the state of the perfect Buddhahood...

Issei softly prayed for a swift and painless transition of the old man to the next life. He saw that the old man beginning to twitch anew, and his left hand clenched around the steel of the crowbar.

"May the ethereal elements not rise up as enemies;  
May it come that we shall see the realm of the Blue Buddha.  
May the earthy elements not rise up as enemies;

The crowbar descended.

"May it come that we shall see the realm of the Yellow Buddha.  
May the fiery elements not rise up as enemies;  
May it come that we shall see the Realm of the Red Buddha.

Minori and Ayaka shakily crawled up to their knees. Both of them were pale and trembling from the surprise attack, and they watched Ayako and Issei silently.

"May the airy elements not rise up as enemies;  
May it come that we shall see the Realm of the Green Buddha.  
May the elements of the rainbow colors not rise up as enemies;

Issei knocked away a trembling arm that was coming for his head, and blood splashed his stoic face. The crowbar cracked against the old man's skull again.

"May it come that all the Realms of the Buddhas will be seen.  
May it come that all Sounds will be known as one's own sounds;  
May it come that all the Radiances will be known as one's own radiance;

Ayako merely sat motionlessly, resting beside the remains of the warm and foul smelling creature. The sharply tipped edge of its long tail curled up slightly, and released a white fluid. The auburn haired teenager couldn't even lift an eyebrow, even as it pooled near her and easily ate through her stocking.

On touching her bare skin, her inner thighs flexed slightly, and a pleasant sensation coursed through her.

"I feel sick," Ayako dully spoke.

"May it come that the Trikaya will be realized in the Bardo..." Issei concluded the prayer for the soul's safekeeping, and cracked the old man's skull open. The old man finally went still, and dozens of smaller worms began to ooze out of the man's head.

Ayaka began to softly weep where she knelt on the ground. Minori angrily rose, and staggered over towards the old man's head. He sharply brought his tennis shoes down on the squirming worms. They obscenely squished, and released more of the white fluid on their death. Minori just kept stomping.

No one had anything else to say for a while after that.

* * *

Kiritsugu, Bazette, and Taiga were furiously throwing stones away from a deep indentation in the earth. Off to the middle of the yard lay the tool shed, which had been moved by Lancer prior to Bazette ordering him to scout the area around.

The main building had survived intact, despite the ominous sounding groans that came from the building. Kiritsugu had fortunately planned out his future home well in advance before he had set the explosive charges on the ley lines. Besides the entrance to the workshop, the armored section would also have survived intact.

Bazette breathed out, lifted a stone lab three fourths her height, and flung it aside. Taiga continued to quickly and stubbornly fling out handfuls of smaller stones at a rapid pace.

"Is your magic going to last?" Kiritsugu questioned. He also lifted, and threw another large chunk of rock out with aid from his reinforcement.

"Don't scoff at Rune Magic. It's as powerful as your reinforcement," Bazette chided, tensing her legs, and reached down for another chunk that was nearly as large as she was. "Lancer already detected the boy down there alive and well. We just need to clear enough before he comes back."

Kiritsugu nodded. The massive swelling of mana that had erupted from the earth had taken the tiny earthquake he had originally planned for, and magnified it to truly ridiculous proportions.

"I still can't believe you deliberately set this up!" Taiga yelled over at Kiritsugu angrily when she paused to wipe away sweat from her head.

"You know how much damage the war does, Taiga," Kiritsugu replied. "Last time it nearly immolated Fuyuki as a parting gift."

"I still can't believe that the Grail can bring upon the end of the world," Bazette muttered in shock. "You did a brave thing for turning it down when it offered you anything while wearing your wife's image."

Both Kiritsugu and Taiga shifted a bit uncomfortably at the reminder of Irisviel.

"I did what I could to ensure the least amount of deaths," Kiritsugu quietly mumbled, and returned to work. "The energy should have just been dispelled harmlessly. Yet it felt like something beyond the bounds of this War was summoned."

"Yes, Lancer is telling me that it feels like a Divine Spirit." Bazette focused, and smashed her fist into a thick layer of concrete, shattering it into several larger pieces.

"He has experience with Divine Spirits?" Kiritsugu blinked in surprise. Internally, he added that fact to the demonic aura the spear had possessed, and the rune magic he had revealed.

'Fraga is an Irish lineage, I think. Perhaps Cú Chulainn?' The Magus Killer wondered. He'd have to ask Shirou later to try and confirm.

"Classified." Bazette immediately vetoed that line of thought. "He's also said that there's several residents of town that are going completely berserk. We're going to have to go out there, and try and pacify them before the Mage's Association finds out."

Kiritsugu calmly nodded. Looked like he'd have to go and see his father in law sooner than expected.

Taiga frowned as she crossed her scuffed up and bleeding hands in front of her chest. "We need to get Shirou out of here first."

Bazette eyed the stone beneath their feet. She nodded after running a few figures in her head. "I'll call Lancer back. By the time he gets here we should have cleared out enough."

Kiritsugu and Taiga quickly returned to tossing the stones up and over the hole they were making in the darkening backyard.

'We're nearly done digging up Urobuchi, can you come back?' Bazette sent the thought over to Cú Chulainn as she bent down to pick up another large boulder.

'Alright. I'm almost done surveying the town,' Lancer calmly replied.

'How bad is it?' Bazette easily flung the boulder away with a flick of her wrists as the runes Uruz and Kenaz burned on her biceps. While she already knew that Kenaz by itself hardened her gloves and fists enough to crush a person's head, she didn't know she could merge it with the Uruz rune to increase her strength this much!

'It's a real mess. Most of the traffic is just stalled. There's people getting attacked everywhere.' A note of annoyance entered his tone. 'When are we going to fight, Master?'

'Considering what just happened? Probably really soon.' Bazette flushed in embarrassment. She felt pretty bad about having teamed up with Kiritsugu without consulting Cú Chulainn first. After hearing his story though, she realized this was important to the world.

Surely he would understan...no, no he wouldn't.

'How about this? Go and thin the herd of those rioters for a while. I'll call you when we're done here,' Bazette shyly offered.

'Hah! I knew you'd understand, Master!' Cú Chulainn cheerfully replied. 'Don't worry, I'll be there right away when you're done.'

'Of course. You're the strongest, Cú Chulainn.' Bazette smiled at the hero's tone.

...

Cú Chulainn descended from the clear skies into the midst of six rotten and mutated creatures like a bolt. He swung his demonic spear with a shout, and swept them completely off their feet. Cú Chulainn took two steps back once he started feeling the drain from being surrounded by these monsters.

He was a good twenty feet away by the time he finished his second step.

The Servant swiftly focused on his magical abilities, and carved the Ansuz rune in mid-air. Normally it was a rune of communication, but he had discovered an interesting side effect of casting it while armed with Gae Bolg.

'Burn, you monsters.'

All six of the beasts exploded in a burst of flame from the distance, his rune burning the undead taint from them. He waited for the power of the flames his birth father symbolized to finish its noble work before he began to look around.

The downtown area of Shinto had been completely ravaged, and several skyscrapers had crumbled as this part of Japan just wasn't built for the level of earthquake that had struck it. The Irish hero clicked his tongue, spinning Gae Bolg about thoughtfully.

"I can't use its thrown attack or it'll reveal who I am," The blue haired man sighed. It was troublesome to have a spear that eagerly wanted to go full power all the time. Best not tempt the demonic spear into triggering a massive explosion if he flung it.

Still, despite his eagerness to get a good fight in, it looked like the nature of the enemy would prevent him from really going up close and personal. "Well then, I can always rely on what my fathers taught me."

'It has been a long time since I've used something besides Scáthach's gift as well...' Cú Chulainn focused, and brought up the information on the city that he needed. 'But my fathers would never let me live it down if I relied too much on a stupid plan anyway.'

The Irish hero began to think about the teachings of Fergus and Sencha with a grin.

'Time to rearm myself appropriately.' Cú Chulainn carved another tracking spell in mid-air with Gae Bolg with the Berkana rune. He pulled information on the city's layout, and swiftly moved towards his goal.

Best move as quickly as he could to maximize the time given to him by his master.

* * *

"We should go down there," Kuzuki mused, standing at the temple gate of Ryuudou. Now that night was descending, the former assassin turned schoolteacher was able to make out the spreading flames. Behind him, Medea quietly stood.

"Are you sure, Souichirou-sama?" Medea gently gnawed on the inside of her mouth. With all this extra energy she could easily summon Assassin now. "I could summon my Dragon Tooth Warriors, and send them down instead?" She tried to offer.

"Ryuudou-kun and my students are down there." Kuzuki turned, and frowned slightly at Medea. "Your warriors would intimidate them."

"...true," Medea admitted. Her skeletal familiars would just as easily drive a person into the arms of the undead plague that was slowly appearing down there. Plus those were **her** souls to collect.

Then again, she really didn't need that energy that much anymore.

"Let's go." Medea threw her hood on over her head, firmly nodding over at Kuzuki.

"Thank you." Kuzuki started walking down the stairs towards the town below.

Once they made it to the bottom of the staircase, the two of them found that the city streets were eerily silent. Medea and Kuzuki both shared a look, and he adjusted stance for a weary one as he gazed down the western road. It appeared heavily cracked, and large pieces of it were simply missing.

"This land is very rich with mana. It all began to wildly surge at once due to someone calling down a God from my era. This would normally have drained the land rather heavily, but it appears that someone damaged part of the ley line." Medea decided to clarify when she saw the confusion on her Master's face.

"Sabotage?" Kuzuki's question was answered with a nod. "Yet you didn't notice? I thought you were using the ley lines to drain the city?"

"Hmph. It was too low level. It basically would have only triggered in situations like this. I believe someone didn't want the land's energy to summon the Holy Grail." Medea hesitated for a few moments. "Souichirou-sama your students could already be dead."

Kuzuki's gaze back towards her from where he had been gazing at a large fire about three blocks away.

"The area has been filled with divine power ever since the earthquake hit. It makes it very easy to detect the undead. Their number are swelling." Medea paused, and went on when the man didn't speak. "Fast. If you wanted...I can go ahead, and enhance you."

She didn't want to suggest saying abandoning the children when his gaze had sharpened.

"Please do." Medea swiftly began to intone a spell from her era, and empowered Kuzuki to the highest level she had ever attained.

Kuzuki blinked in surprise, and he raised a hand and flexed his fingers. His body felt like it weighed nothing at all at the moment. He tentatively lashed out with the weakest strike he could perform, and the air itself loudly cracked with just that.

"I know a great many secrets about the human body thanks to my aunt Circe." Medea grinned at the expression on Kuzuki's face. "Reinforcement of this level is nothing to her or I." She briefly looked a bit annoyed. "Even if she always could outdo my transformation potions."

"Hm..." Kuzuki merely hummed as he flexed his fingers.

Medea drooped slightly. She pouted and wished for a few moments that Kuzuki was a bit of a better conversationalist at times. "You'll be able to fight well on a Servant's level. Just in case they take advantage of this situation like what happened last night."

"The magic attack at Sakura Matou's home?" Kuzuki's observation made Medea smile and nod.

"I'm actually rather impressed someone of this era learned to do that." Medea tried to keep the conversation open. The two of them began to walk together down a ruined neighborhood. "I had thought most of the real mages had fallen when my age had ended."

"It must be difficult," Kuzuki quietly replied. "...to control a large fire like that." He tried to add on to explain himself.

"Well, I know that *I* can do it," Medea softly bragged, moving closer besides Kuzuki. Her heart skipped a beat as Kuzuki remained walking next to her. She wondered if she could take a chance, and try and brush her hand against his?

'Where's that sense of danger coming from?' Kuzuki wondered, looking around with narrowed eyes.

A loud clattering from the left put him on alert, and he drew his hands up in front of him defensively. Kuzuki felt a small hand brush up against his side.

Medea gave a harsh glare in the direction of the noise as she pulled her right hand away from where it had landed against Kuzuki's ribs. Oh, someone was going to die for that one, alright.

A weak moan came out from a half collapsed home. The figure that shambled towards them gleamed rather ghastly in the dusk sky, and the flames reflected off the woman's pallid looking face. Both Kuzuki and Medea raised their eyebrows as the woman jerked in place.

The brunette's glazy looking blue eyes gazed up and down Medea like a piece of meat after briefly taking in Kuzuki. The woman's whole frame jerked once again in mid-step, and she moved closer towards the two.

"I'm sorry but I'm not interested at all." Medea caught the intent in that hungry look. "You're just not my type. I don't like the undead."

"Caster, destroy her so we can get on our way." Kuzuki quietly spoke up.

"Of course." Medea began to quickly mumble. An incarnation that would have normally taken a mage of her era eight minutes was condensed into a three second blur of syllables. "Aero."

The figure standing in their way was instantly ground to dust. Gusts of wind enhanced with her magic spun the figure wildly in place, and pulped her into nothing more than a greasy smear on the ground.

"Better luck next life," Medea consoled the dark stain on the ground, and she went to follow after Kuzuki.

"Let's go, Medea." Kuzuki spoke up once he made sure they were alone, before the two continued forwards.

'I wish I had taken the time to put that charm on Ryuudou-kun,' Medea cursed her thoughtlessness once again, and the two continued to walk down the empty streets. It would have let her see instantly through the boy's senses if she had performed the spell.

Yet another thing that had to be put off when the school had burned down.

"What's wrong?" Kuzuki wondered as the two paused at an intersection. The dark haired man frowned at seeing nothing around.

"Ah...I just wish the day had more hours," Medea truthfully replied. She could attend to Kuzuki while he was at home, and then set up everything else that she had to as well. "Do you know where Ryuudou-kun went?"

"He was going downtown for a date." Kuzuki lips curled up ever so slightly. It was good that his student was expanding his boundaries before he devoted himself to the monk lifestyle wholeheartedly.

"Mmm. It's good that he's having fun when he's young." Medea nodded. "He must have impressed her father very much. Or did he bring any gifts to give to the father?"

"Eh?" Kuzuki blinked, and turned towards the witch. "Oh. No. I...don't think we do that anymore," He murmured. Then again, who was he to say? He wasn't really sure how these things were done either.

Medea blinked. "Ah. I'm sorry, Souichirou-sama...I presumed too much." The back of her mind began to buzz when she wondered what they did these days. The witch narrowed her eyes at the feel of something foreign in her mind. Medea quickly decided to cleave that sensation straight off at the head.

Especially since she had ...unpleasant experiences with mind altering effects in the past. With a quickly mumbled spell beneath her breath, Medea completely cut herself off from whatever had been trying to affect her.

Error 403. No modern values found.

"Still, it's up to us to instill values in Ryuudou-kun, isn't it?" Kuzuki mused. Medea began to wildly grin at being included, happily following in his wake. "Tell me, what did young men do back in your day to court the ladies?"

"Well, boys used to go wrestle beasts for starters..."

* * *

Gilgamesh, Caren, and he had decided to split their attention at concealing the latest snag from the moment that Caren had scryed the town. The technique she had used was a precaution for her old exorcisms groups, and had only just been a formality.

It had surprised both Caren and Kotomine to learn that the town was swiftly being filled with the undead. Both father and daughter had agreed to nip this problem in the bud. Since both of them at least took their sacred duty to destroy anything that was non-human seriously.

Mostly because it inconvenienced the both of them in their own way, but they had to at least be faithful members of the Church, and annihilate what was clearly Non-Human before it spread even further. Caren had taken Gilgamesh, and decided to contact the Masters to try and set up a quarantine while Kotomine went to the Mayor.

It was best to take care of her and the Chief of Police before they got any silly ideas about calling for help, and spreading this out even further. Kotomine had gone ahead downtown, while Caren and Gilgamesh had crossed the bridge back to Miyama to find the other Masters.

Kotomine paused at one of the windows in City Hall, and glanced out at the fires that were beginning to rise along Fuyuki City's horizon. For a few moments he was lost in thought, wondering about how many people must be dying at the moment.

Kotomine softly smiled. 'It must truly be a large number.'

If only he had won the last Grail War...

"Excuse me, Father?" Kotomine shook his head, and glanced over at the secretary. The calm, assured man that stood before him had the tiniest gleam in his green eyes. "The Mayor will see you now."

Kotomine smoothed his smock down. Once he felt he was well prepared, he nodded at the man, and followed him towards the mayor's office. There were several aids desperately rushing around the large office, trying to get ten things done at once, and yelling into their cell phones outside of the door.

Several of them looked confused when they saw Kotomine approach. One look into his faintly glowing eyes, and most of the energy rushed out of them all at once. A few of the more sharper aids realized something was going on, but they weren't quick enough to escape.

Kotomine nodded after making sure to run his gaze past each member of this crowd.

"Let's all go see the Mayor, shall we? I need to know what you're all going to do about this." Kotomine offered the group as a whole the tiniest of smiles. "We have to make sure we keep Fuyuki City alive. At least for a while longer."

* * *

At the moment, Otoko Hotaruzuka appreciated the fact she had several patrons at her bar more than ever. She and several of Copenhagen's customers raised a long table up over one of the windows, while five more pressed another table up against the entrance.

The sound of hammers slamming nails into the walls just barely could be heard over the moans of the zombies that were raging outside.

"Neko! We need you over here!" Otoko heard behind her just as she finished hammering the last nail in place. She quickly stepping back from the window along with the three men that were supporting her, and turned towards the voice of Yukika Saegusa.

"What's going on, Yuki-chan?"

"One of the men got bitten by those...things outside." The short haired teenager looked visibly shaken, and seemed to be playing with a notepad that she was carrying in the bar's apron anxiously.

"How...long ago?" Otoko nervously licked her lips. The adults on the periphery of her vision begin to tense up.

"He just let us look at it about a few minutes ago," Yukika replied. "But he's had it for like an hour, he said."

The adults nervously traded gazes amongst themselves.

"We really need to have it cleaned up," Yukika insisted. The girl began to take a lecturing tone she had when she had someone hurt on the track team back at school. "A human's mouth is one of the most germ infested places. He hasn't lost too much blood since he wasn't bitten near any major veins, but it's important we clean it..."

Otoko shook off her moment of stupidity at the earnestness of the girl in front of her. "Ah...Yuki-chan. Can you come with me, please? We'll take some alcohol down from the back. It's much easier to clean an infection with that."

"T-thank you." Yukika shakily smiled, and followed her boss. She tried hard not to think about her fellow Track Team members, briefly glancing back at the sweating middle aged man she had been attending to up until now.

The remaining three adults stood silently until the backdoor of Copenhagen was closed.

"...you heard the girl." Miyako, a twenty year old woman with short brown hair, and a beige vest over a red buttoned-up, long-sleeved shirt and tie. She calmly adjusted her tie, before gazing over at the hurt man. "He got bitten."

"He...that's not how real life works." Naoko, a brunette dressed in an elegant black dress, and a brown shawl, shook her head in denial. She turned towards the last man in their group when she saw the look of determination in Miyako's eyes. "W-we can't do things like that! We live in a civilized society!"

"...we do, but that seems to have gone to the wayside this night." Yuuta, a white haired man in his forties with a deep tan, and dressed in an orange-brown suit slowly gestured at the boarded up window with his glove covered hand. "This is our reality. Do you really want to risk it when the living dead are attacking us?"

Naoko gazed at the hurt man. He was a rather heavy set man dressed in a bloody white button shirt, and brown slacks. The young girl had attended to him as well as she could, but she could see that the man was obviously in the throes of some sort of a fever. His jacket had been set up besides him.

"They get stronger based on their size, right?" Naoko recalled. She reluctantly started towards the bar along with the other two. The three carefully made their way towards the bar itself, and reached around to the other side.

Each grabbed a particularly sharp looking cork remover, and shared another look. The dim lights of the bar gleamed off the metallic spiraling tint.

"Might not be enough," Naoko mused.

"We'll just crush his head afterward if it becomes a problem," Yuuta replied, causing both of his partners to grimace distastefully.

"...then let's do this before Otoko comes back with the girl," Miyako muttered. All three turned towards the weakly moaning man lying in a booth towards the back. The trio moved towards the twitching man while brandishing their weapons.

It was over in an instant as all three plunged their weapons messily into the side of the man's neck and his eye sockets. They swiftly shoved the large man's own jacket into his mouth when he opened his mouth to shriek and wail.

Miyako gagged as their victim's eyelids and eyes just gave way like nothing before her and Yuuta's initial thrust with their purloined weapons. The large man beneath them thrashed and struggled for his life, while blood and all manner of bodily fluids squirted out from him in his fear and death throes.

Both Miyako and Yuuta leaned down on their victim bodily after leaving the cork removers in their victim's ruined eye sockets. The large man put up a great struggle beneath their arms, but he was swiftly starting to weaken, and her and her partner's efforts at holding him down were getting easier.

Naoko softly sobbed, a small smear of blood coating her face. The cork remover in her hands was completely bloody, and dripped down on her hands. She leaned more of her body's weight down into her hands and arms to increase the pressure.

A loud crack echoed loudly in their corner of the bar, and the large man finally slumped.

"...god, I need a drink," Miyako groaned.

Yuuta's nose twitched in disgust at the foul stench emitting from the dead man.

Naoko merely gazed sightlessly at the snapped off remains of the cork remover in her hands, and then at the other part that was jabbed into the man's neck.

"...come on. Let's take a breather. We damaged the brain through the eyes well enough." Miyako tried to pull both of her partners towards the bar, and away from what they had done. "We need to get cleaned up so we don't freak out the girl."

"We're going to say that he turned and we took him out." Yuuta took off his suit's jacket, and threw it over the large man's head to cover him. "Is that clear?"

Miyako merely nodded, and Naoko shakily tucked her broken tool underneath the jacket as well, before agreeing with her own nod. All three of them began to move towards the sink behind the bar. They quickly started up the tap. All three of them quickly splashed their faces, and ran their bloody hands through the stream of water.

"I'm going to need a drink of water after that," Yuuta muttered. He grabbed a glass from off the nearby rack, and held it under the stream. He didn't even notice the color of the water subtly changed. He down half of the glass with a swift chug. It was quickly taken from him before he could refill it.

Naoko silently chugged the rest of it down, and handed it back to him.

Both Yuuta and Naoko suddenly jerked in place. Their throats constricted with pain, and they clutched at their chests, staggering back a step.

Miyako, who was standing a foot away from the two, began to drink straight from one of the bottles.

"...look, I know it's a shitty thing we did." Miyako began. "You both know how zombies get created! Guy was dead from the moment he was bitten."

Both Yuuta and Naoko shared an empty look, before they gazed over at the rambling woman.

"Shit, it isn't like there was any sort of twist to this situation. It was him or us. Him or us."

Both Naoko and Yuuta slowly reached towards Miyako from behind.

...

Otoko and Yukika slowly made their way through the stacks of alcohol around them - guided by thin beams of light from their flashlights. They covered their noses from the noxious amount of fumes from all the mixed fluids. Very often they would crash or bang into several overturned wine cases, or have to loudly crunch through a path of broken bottles as they explored the storage room noisily.

"Do you think that Urobuchi-san and Shirou-kun are alright, Neko?" Yukika wondered as the two women pushed aside a crate that had had fallen.

With most of the stacks and rows of alcohol fallen over, the two women hadn't been able to find any bottles of alcohol at all for treating the man. In fact, Yukika didn't even think this kind of alcohol should even be used to treat the man at all. Otoko had merely told her that this was the best thing to use since the water supply most likely had gotten mixed with the sewage.

Now the two were navigating through the mazelike chamber that the storage room had become thanks to all the overturned crates and alcohol cases.

"It'll take more than this to kill those two, Yuki-chan. I bet those fools are taking the opportunity to duct tape chainsaws on the end of Ren's fake naginata at this moment." Otoko narrowed her eyes when she saw a dark blob on top of one of the cases of liquor.

"There we go!" Otoko cheered, revealing a bottle after flashing her light towards the shadow.

"How are we going to get up there?" Yukika looked around for the ladder they usually used to reach the top shelves. "I don't see the ladder around, Neko."

Otoko's left eyebrow twitched. "I keep telling you that it is a **step** ladder."

"Yes. Sure." Yukika rolled her eyes with a sigh as she looked around. She brightened up as she looked at a overturned crate.

Several shards from several broken bottles poured out of it, and a large puddle of mixed alcohol strongly wafted up to her nose.

"Neko! We can use that crate!"

Yukika and Otoko both moved around towards the crate. Their noses twinged with the strong odor of the alcohol, but they ignored it. They began to shove the large crate between the two of them closer to the front of the case.

"Up you go." Otoko offered Yukika a hand. The younger girl leveraged herself up and onto the crate.

The brunette's point of view significantly increased now that she was standing much higher up in the room. From her point of view, she could see the entire storage room, and the door leading back to the bar.

"Neko?" Yukika called down to Otoko.

"What is it, Yuki-chan?" Her boss wondered.

"...I think we have a problem." Yukika softly breathed. She could faintly make out two adults. Most importantly, she could see that the two of them were tightly clenching onto bloody looking cork removers.

* * *

Shinji lay at the bottom of a deep pool of clean tasting water after an earthquake had struck Fuyuki City. It was a mixed blessing for the young Matou, since now he could actually gain control of himself from the indignity of having to lay in sewage while he sent out more and more Familiars to find Sakura.

Yet it also meant that he was now calm enough to be able to understand the voice that was swiftly increasing in volume as well. A voice that kept demanding his attention, no matter how loudly the water purification systems spun and whipped the water Shinji lay within.

_Why aren't you finding her?_

'I'm busy.'

_Being a freak of nature?_

'It's important that we find out how powerful I am now that the fucker is dead,' Shinji insisted. He had mentally cheered at being freed from the old man on his return to sanity.

_Does it matter? You're a freak like he was now too. Haven't you seen your other friends run away from you already?_

'Shut up. They didn't know,' Shinji replied. 'I just haven't converted the puppet bodies to match my souls yet. Everyone just thought they were being attacked by zombies or something.'

_Yeah, wasn't it fun? We should go turn more women. They're so soft and warm._

'Be quiet. We don't need women anymore. They aren't strong enough compared to the men anyway,' Shinji scoffed. The male puppets he had created were showing remarkable power and strength. Enough to be worthy of him.

_Don't be like that. You know that males are useless. We snap their spines before long. Just keep the course. Rape the maidens._

'No. **You** are the one that does that. I don't do that,' Shinji insisted.

_At least not anymore._

'Shut up!'

_But we're one and the same. You're just shutting yourself up._

'No we're not! Now I **order** you to do that and leave me alone.'

_Hahah. Yes, that worked out **so** well for your uncle._

'...what?"

_Just merge with me and you'll find out._

'No. I was a complete moron when I did that.' Shinji's current state was actually a rather liberating feeling at the moment.

_Tch. Fine. Let's start from the beginning then. We can sit back and watch some of your future enemies get torn to shreds._

* * *

A roar shook the stillness of the night. A mob of at least thirty deformed humans rushed Kuzuki and Medea as a whole.

"Run Souchiro-sama!" Medea mentally cursed her own weakness for allowing Kuzuki to come with her, even as she gestured at the group. Her lips moved in a blur, stringing her syllables together.

Yet Kuzuki didn't move from the tense martial arts stance he took. "Not without you."

"_Argos!_" A street wide transparent barrier formed before Medea with an application of her will. Once it had formed, she quickly took Kuzuki's hand. Both of them raced away while the hoard of monsters banged on the field as one collective entity.

Two figures raced high above on the rooftops parallel to the two's flight, as strong and swift as they were. These figures threw themselves at the duo before they could even get two blocks away from where Argos had been deployed.

Kuzuki shoved Medea behind him as a teenaged girl in a tattered grey shirt, and shredded set of pants flung herself at him with a shriek, and a swipe of a blooded claw. The schoolteacher's mind sank into a state of zen, and his enhanced reflexes let him sway back two inches to avoid the raking nails, before thrusting his fist outwards.

His right arm was turned so the back faced Kuzuki. It angled downwards, brushing beneath the girl's pale arm, before he used his elbow as a pivot, and caught her slimmer arm between his bicep and forearm. Kuzuki flexed, and crushed the arm in an instant.

The pallid girl let out a wail of anger before Kuzuki popped her head clean off her shoulders with his left arm.

The other one rushed towards his blind side, but was met by Medea, and a face full of raw prana. "Die," Medea whispered. The top half of the other girl was liquified messily as the witch used a hex, which triggered all of the dormant power locked within her target's blood.

Argos broke behind them with the sound of glass being shattered.

Both Master and Servant exchanged a look, and continued racing ahead.

'Damnit! Why can't Souchiro-sama leave? I can't risk him being caught in my Rain of Light spell.' Medea furiously chewed on her lip. The hoard behind them roared louder at discovering the remains of their kin.

"Medea...leave me." Kuzuki suddenly spoke up from where he was rushing along her side. The blue haired woman looked at him like he had gone mad. "You said that you've reinforced me, right? I can't fly like you can, but I can lead them away. They're not as fast as I am if I don't have to worry about you."

"Souchiro...Kuzuki, you can't mean that," Medea begged. Her shock was so great that the woman actually stumbled. Yet she didn't fall as Kuzuki caught her, and helped her to her feet. The two kept running.

"See? You're no good for this. Just save yourself." Kuzuki paused. "If you could also find my stud..."

"Yo human, I'm really happy for you for doing a brave thing, but I'm going to let you finish in a bit." A voice rang from above Medea and Kuzuki as they rushed past a convenience store. At the same moment, ten of the leading beasts in the mob instantly went down as their heads erupted after loud cracks echoed in the night.

The hoard briefly stilled as one.

Medea and Kuzuki looked up to see a tall, blue haired man in a bodysuit with a crimson spear strapped to his back. He casually juggled a stone up and down in his left hand. In his right hand he wielded a primitive looking slingshot.

"Just wanted to say that this is one of the best slingshots of all time." Cú Chulainn continued. He loaded, fired, and added another headshot to his total count in the blink of an eye. "Bet you can't do any better..."

Medea briefly boggled.

"'Boom, headshot.'" Cú Chulainn air-quoted with his free hand. "Ah, humans are so amusing these days..." Yet he frowned a little. "After the dog thing, that is." He turned to gaze at Medea. "Are you going to let your Master bite the big one for you?"

"N-no!" Medea shrieked.

"Then get up here and help me blow them away!" Cú Chulainn was again another blur as he quickly picked up another piece of rock, and promptly blew another of the recovering hoard away. "I'm not like my father, so I can't shot through a dozen of them in one go!"

"Right!" Medea pointed at the rushing hoard, invoking the spell that flowed through her veins ever since her birth.

"Oh? You have the power of a god of light!" The man fiercely grinned, shooting at the approaching mob. "Well, as a fellow practitioner, let me lend you a hand." He dropped the slingshot he was holding.

The runes Nauthiz, fearlessness in the face of death, and Inguz, the rune of loyalty, were added to the spell that Medea was casting. The witch's eyes widened in shock, feeling the familiar power of another god of the sun be added to her own power.

Both her and the newcomer shouted the new spell's invocation together.

"_True Sun Rune!_" Nauthiz's secondary function as a rune of restriction kicked in as a dome of white light shimmered right on top of the majority of the hoard rushing them. The ones that weren't lucky enough to be within the bounds of the dome were melted in half as their whole body couldn't fit within the field.

A spark of orange-red light appeared in the center of the dome for a brief second, before the entirety of the field within the dome was filled with raging flame. It utterly consumed everything that was unfortunate enough to be trapped within.

The creatures screamed, and tried to race towards the edges of the dome. Any contact with that white light instantly melted any limbs that tried to pass through. It was a perfect trap.

Kuzuki, Medea, and Cú Chulainn silently watched the proceedings as the mob were burnt away from this earth. The lancer turned to look down at Kuzuki and Medea once the last traces of the monsters were removed from the area.

Cú Chulainn hummed, looking Medea up and down carefully. The witch frowned and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She took a step closer to Kuzuki.

"Good taste." Cú Chulainn gave Kuzuki a thumbs up.

Medea sputtered.

"I know." Kuzuki solemnly nodded. The lancer laughed, while the witch went slightly pink.

* * *

Wise Up!

_True Sun Rune_

[One Sun In The Heavens]

Owners: Medea and Cú Chulainn

Type: Anti-Army

Rank: A+

Range: 10-40

Maximum No. of Targets: 500 people

A combination of the runic arts and divine words. The shared lineage of sun deity lineage between the two casters acts like the bridge between the two eras. The spell Ray of Light is both condensed and enhanced into a dome of pristine white light that ranges from 10 meters to 40 meters in diameter. Once the spell is invoked, a spark of flame is ignited in the center of the dome, and superheated plasma is generated in a storm that rages until all targets within the sphere are annihilated.

What a wonderful thing teamwork is...


	15. Chapter 15

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 15: Animate Dead II

"This...isn't proper at all, is it?" Arturia wondered. While she could understand replacing the tattered outfit she had been wearing before she had shifted to her battle armor – she just could not understand the purpose of the replacement outfit given her.

Resting on the bed in front of her was a small, red, open-chested leather vest, with drawstrings along its sides, and an equally tiny looking red leather skirt, with golden buttons artistically sewn onto the front. A garter belt, stockings, shoes, and a ribbon lay next to the scandalous outfit.

Apparently this, and the much safer looking outfit Ilya had taken with her, had been worn for her Master's benefit the other night.

The king uncomfortable shifted in place, and flushed a bit. She glanced over at the outfit she had been wearing up until they had dropped by her Master's home. It and her shoes were still lying within the white garbage bag that Ilya had stuffed them in.

The smell of the bag was great.

The king picked up the trash bag, and walked over towards the door of Shirou's room to drop it into the hallway along with the one containing Ilya's ruined clothing. She jerked her body back into her Master's bedroom, and closed the door.

Arturia turned her gaze over at the clothing on the bed.

The amount of leather remained minimal.

Arturia crossed her arms in front of her bare chest. She wiggled in place in thought, flip-flopping between one great evil and another. The last time she had ever given so much thought as to what to do had wound up costing her Caliburn!

'What would Master say if I came up to him in these outfits?' Arturia wondered worriedly. The last thing she needed was to turn the opinion of the one person who actually considered her a warrior despite her gender.

It seemed to be her lot in life though. Even back during the last Grail War, everyone started treating her differently when it was found out who she was. It was subtle, but even Irisviel had kept trying to push her to be something she wasn't totally comfortable with being.

Only Rider had really seemed to not change too much in how he had treated her once he found out she was a King as well. He had been an outstanding example of a King. Not like Archer had been...

'Still, he got disgusted with me when he found out about my wish, didn't he?' Arturia sighed, remembering her final bout with the King of Conquerors. At least Archer had been occupied with Berserker during that last fight.

Arturia decided to go ahead and start putting on the outfit. She couldn't afford to be complacent and dither anyway. She quickly threw on the outfit, and clenched at the strings, closing the vest as much as it could over her chest.

The king instinctively brought her bare arms up, tied the ribbon around her left bicep, then finished tying the shoes on her stocking clad legs. She spun to face the cracked mirror on the floor of her Master's bedroom.

"...I look ridiculous," Arturia pronounced, hanging her head.

The slip of a girl that stood posed in the crimson leather outfit was most definitely worthy of scorn. From how large and doe like the green eyes were as she ran her surprised gaze along her exposed body, to how ridiculously inappropriate it was in Arturia's eyes to show off such muscular arms and shoulders in the skimpy top.

'Not man enough to be a king. Nor woman enough to be Arturia,' Arturia snorted in self disgust. Camelot definitely deserved someone better than her. The blonde turned away from her reflection in anger.

Arturia's eyes widened as she saw a portrait -_poster_- on the back wall of the room. She walked around a strange device -computer- that had fallen and broken to pieces on the floor. She moved past a bookcase that had toppled over and dropped a series of miniature figures dressed in heavy armor, wielding some oddly modified swords -_chainsaws_- towards a poster.

It rested on the wall six inches to the left of a window facing a darkened neighborhood. With it being partially open, Arturia could hear only profound silence besides the steadily rumbling of a generator.

A tingly itch went up in the back of Arturia's mind.

"Merlin?" Saber blinked and frowned. Why did that slip out? His name wasn't Merlin. It was Myr-_Merlin_. The king took a step back from the poster fearfully. She shook her head to dispel the thought. Bringing her own will to the task, she looked on the poster of a robed older man standing before a castle and holding a staff.

"Merlin" read towards the bottom of the poster. Yet she knew who it was supposed to be. She knew better than what she kept getting repeated to her. Arturia remembered that she had even slipped, and had even given her Master that incorrect name as well.

The itch in the back of her mind swelled up again.

"If you could only see me now, Myrddin." -_Saber's_- intense concentration allowed her to speak the correct name of her mentor.

Yet...why did it seem like something else had gone wrong?

"I hope Ilya is having an easier time getting dressed." Saber looked back at the door of the bedroom thoughtfully.

* * *

Ilya felt her right shoulder throb again. She stood in the trashed living room of the Urobuchi home, clad only in a dark gray skirt, her bra, and a black and red striped necktie around her neck. The gray sweater and white button shirt that came with this skirt were draped on top of the kotatsu in the corner.

Ilya looked around at the knocked over bookcases and pictures on the walls, and once again marveled at how well prepared Uncle Ren had been to get the home reinforced before the earthquake had struck. She walked around the mess in the living room, and glanced outside. Several of the building across the street had completely collapsed from the shaking.

'Son of a bitch!' The albino's face purpled with rage, her arm once again helpfully reminding her that she had to turn down Uncle Ren's morphine pills thanks to her messed up body. She reached up with her left hand, and rubbed at her forehead to wipe out sweat that had collected.

Oh, _fuck _this shit.

Ilya decided that she couldn't deal with being practically naked thanks to her arm's stupid condition. Not that Uncle Ren would protest if she traipsed around naked anyway. He always was more tolerant of her quirks than anyone else.

'Well, not enough to not go ape shit when I said a 'gang' had attacked.' Ilya winced, hearing the distant sounds of Uncle Ren banging around in his room down the hall.

Ilya carefully moved around several shattered plates on the floor of the kitchen, and opened up the refrigerator. The puttering sound of a gas powered generator in the cramped backyard this house had behind the kitchen increased a bit as the refrigerator's light came on.

The albino sighed in relief, dipping her head and upper body into the cool fridge in search of something she could eat and convert into fuel for her magecraft. Her red eyes happily lit up at seeing two plates of leftovers with Shirou's name on it.

Ilya reached forwards with her left hand ,and pulled a large plate out and over towards the nearby kitchen counter. She carefully glanced over her now chilled shoulder to see if anyone was around. She summoned her prana strings when she saw that her uncle hadn't come out yet, and used them to slash apart the plastic wrap around the riceballs, fish, and bowl of miso.

"My tentacles kick your tentacle's asses Matou-kun," Ilya snorted, and dispelled them. She quickly devoured everything set out before her. Some mild flavors struck her palate as she devoured Uncle Ren's fair. Not as good as her own food, but not as bad as Shirou.

Or her mom's own food.

Ilya shuddered a bit, smacking her lips together as she finished. Her small pink tongue lashed out from her pouty lips, and ran along the surface of her skin to finish drawing in everything she could from the meal.

"Uncle is getting pretty decent," The albino mused. Ravenous hunger struck her moments before she darted back into the refrigerator for more food. It was the price to pay for having triggered the dregs of knowledge that had been forcibly implanted in her such a long time ago.

* * *

"Those fucking bastards are going to pay for touching sweet Ilya-chan!" Ren grit his teeth, tearing into the thick strap of duct tape. The older man used the large piece of sticky adhesive to finish securing his masterpiece together.

His nerves, which had been on high alert ever since the earthquake had struck, began to die down as he gazed upon his naginata. Sure, the blade itself was as dull as all get out, but it was cast out of solid steel.

Ren hurriedly continued setting up the last of his preparations. He wasn't going to be taking any chances with his fellow human beings. Especially since Ilya had said she and her foreign friend had been attacked by a gang of delinquents.

The older man looked around at the dozens of discarded boxes of duct tape lay on top of his bed along with his weapon.

The five foot long steel naginata had two red bricks taped to the bottom of it. On the tip of the weapon rested a decently sized chainsaw that had also been liberally attached with more duct tape. The whole thing was liberally wrapped around with even more duct tape to reinforce the weapon.

It wasn't going to take him far. But it was more than enough to intimidate even the shadiest of punks if they tried to come after Ilya in the wake of the disaster.

"Hoorah!" Ren lifted his creation over his head. He set the weapon back down on the bed after finding the weight to his liking.

Then again, there was yet another problem besides this. There wasn't the typical human reactions at all factoring into his preparation. Not a single person had come up to his door and knocked or called out during the whole time he had been getting ready.

The sound of his gas powered generator rattling through the walls of the house and his shout were the only two noises he had heard ever since the earthquake had struck. Very faintly in the distance, he could make out the wails of emergency response vehicles.

It should never be this quiet in a neighborhood.

'Don't think about it too much.' Ren desperately reminded himself. None of his neighbors had come over to his house even though he was the only house with power in the block. That wasn't normal at all. 'Do not bring down the fickle fates on yourself.'

Ren distracted himself by thinking about how much money he was going to make off all this. 'Call me a fool for buying all those extra policies, do they! Big bucks here I come~ This over-insured rat's nest is going to make me freaking rich by the time this is all over.'

Ren's fear, now sufficiently kept at bay with the thought of all those yens, abated as he went about gearing himself to look properly intimidating. First came some war paint on his face. The black and green paint smeared itself smoothly onto his cheeks along with a coating of black around his eyes.

Ren moved on to cover his torso. A long sleeved leather jacket went on first. Over it came a bullet proof vest. It was a bit frayed, but he had reinforced it after he bought it online. A chest pad from a cannibalized american football uniform came over the vest last.

His arms and legs came next. Ren, already wearing a set of thick denim jeans, hopped into a slightly larger pair of denim pants to layer his legs from scrapes and tears. After he buckled a belt over the two layers of pants he slipped on ceramic knee pads with thick padding on the inside onto his legs.

Another set of ceramic elbow pads went on over his arms, along with some leather gloves on his hands.

Ren slipped on an dark vest over his uniform. A set of pockets were woven on the surface and each one had either a knife or a taser set tightly into them.

Afterward, he set a rounded football helmet down around his cranium, and latched it around his chin. The green brushes had been donated from his broom and had been glued on top of the helmet to give it the appropriate mohawk look.

Ren glanced over at the mirror hanging up on the inside of his closet door, and nodded firmly to himself. He was now pretty much the most intimidating looking person he had ever met. The finishing touches, and his weapon would also have everyone either fleeing from a lunatic, or understating him so badly they wouldn't see his weapons coming.

'I wonder when the police are going to mobilize? This is a pretty poor showing for our tax dollars. Pride of Japan, my ass.'

"Just one last thing to go..." Ren happily reached over, and placed a ceramic neck brace around the only part of his body still exposed.

"Hm...and Shirou thought I'd never make the Mad Max look work for me," Ren snorted.

'No one is going to fuck with my family now!' Ren happily thought as he reached over towards his bed, and grasped his weapon.

* * *

Ilya glanced up at hearing the sound of Uncle Ren's cheer. She grinned, and rolled her eyes as she finished chugging what remained of the juice inside the refrigerator. The last dark spots on her shoulder visibly faded away just as she tossed the empty carton in the nearly overflowing trash can.

The albino glanced into the emptied fridge, winced slightly, and guiltily shut it.

'I'll have to replace the groceries later.'

That's when she heard the door to Shirou's bedroom slide open. Ilya turned, and quickly moved towards the white dress shirt. Her fingers dexterously began to undo the buttons on it.

She could hopefully get it on before...

"Ilya!" The silver haired girl winced, and turned towards Saber. Ilya turned to see the skimpily dressed Servant, chagrin and amusement dancing in her red eyes.

'Probably mad I made her acknowledge she was a girl,' Ilya thought mirthfully. 'No reason to be so butthurt that I want to call her Arturia.'

She thought it was a pretty name. Hell, no one would be able to connect it to **King Arthur**in a hundred years.

Yet the expected anger on the blonde's features faded to a look of surprise.

Ilya blinked and looked at her healed arm. She waved it about dismissively.

"If it's about the arm, it's fine, see?" Ilya's mood dimmed a bit when she saw the surprise remain on Saber's face. The silver haired teenager blinked, and tried to explain as best as she could without letting Uncle Ren hear certain keywords. "I know the same stuff my mom does...or are you amazed at my awesome body~?"

"What happened to your back?" Ilya's joking mood came crashing to the ground. Her smile went brittle, and she nervously licked her lips. She quickly threw on the white button shirt over her nearly bared top, and began to button it up.

Old scars twitched at being acknowledged.

"Oniichan was really frisky when I gave myself to him." Ilya was looking away from Saber as she harshly tugged on her gray sweater over her head, and down over her dress shirt. "Oniichan can be a real carnivore if you're not careful."

"Those aren't fresh looking. Plus, why would Master ever risk placing such thick looking scars so close to the major arteries on your nec..." Saber's hurried tone was cut off as the silver haired teenager slashed across the air with her left hand.

"**Saber,**" Ilya barked out. She reached towards the back of her head, and tucked into her rich, thick locks of hair to roughly tug them out from beneath the sweater. Her pinkie dug into sensitive greyish skin at the base of her head.

Saber firmed her lips into a thin line as Ilya slumped slightly in place. The king silently gazed at the magus for a few moments, the concern she had felt on seeing the teenager's back giving way to annoyance at herself.

"...nevermind," The blonde bit out before Ilya could open her mouth. Both of them decided to a strained silence as they simply gazed at each other's eyes.

'Why did I expect something different?' Saber began to wonder. 'She's his daughter, right? Just another lia...'

At that moment, the front door suddenly stopped existing as a solid barrier against the outside world. A tide of bizarrely warped, and uniquely mangled pallid humans stumbling towards the two teenagers as one.

Each was a more nightmarish parody of death than the last one. Some were missing their lower jaws. Others had their guts hanging out, dripping out of their torsos. A few had a missing limb here or there. Nearly all of the males rushing them had gaping wounds at some point in their bodies.

However the looks of the women in the crowd were disturbing on a different level for Ilya and Saber.

They were entirely whole. Not a single mark was on their bodies. Yet that was a point of horror in its own way as their clothes were torn apart. The look of mindless rage found in the males' eyes were absent in the women, replaced instead with one of confused horror.

Ilya raised a hand to her face, the two of them backing away from the crowd as she saw thick liquid drip down from the shadows beneath a mostly torn apart skirt on one of the pallid women's bodies. A few of them sleepily looked around, and shuddered in place, before looking at the males around them, and even Ilya and Saber, with hungry eyes.

A chalk white and bulbous worm slipped out from between a woman's lips, and let out a shriek at both of them.

"Saber...!" Ilya yelled.

Saber snarled as she stepped forward, and brought both of her hands together. A surge of wind knocked aside books, and made a few of the corpses stumble awkwardly as they were knocked backwards.

But an equal amount of bodies pushed them forward.

The look of madness and rage in the male corpses grew more pronounced as their collectively opened their circuits. A dizzying wave of weakness ripped through both Ilya and Saber, and they collapsed to their knees as the familiar worms they had faced before once again used absorption to suck out the energy in the area.

The looks of hunger in the women also began to increase, and pronounced squirming appeared beneath their flesh. Blood splurted out of their hands and ran down their arms as thick nails began to slide out of their fingers.

The sound of a chainsaw's engine being revved up answered the howls and moans of the beasts moving towards the two women.

"**FOR THE EMPEROR!**" Ren shouted as he exploded out of the hallway. He looked like the god of war from an apocalyptic wasteland. The urban armored man swung his chainsaw naginata straight at the head of one of the male corpses.

* * *

"Show them your might, Herakles!"

Ilyasviel laughed as she casually sat on the broad shoulders of her Herakles, clutching onto him with her prana strings. The giant blurred, bringing his massive stone axe to bear, and smashed another two puppets into smears of gore and bits of worm.

Before the earthquake had struck, the two of them had been whiling away the time until nightfall, playing with her two maids: Sella and Leysritt. The two of them easily dominated the maids.

Which made perfect sense, since they were the strongest!_**  
**_  
"My half of the vessel are reacting to her." Ilyasviel sneered, thinking about the stain on her family's heritage. The thought of the other one who bore her name being allowed to walk around in broad daylight without a care in the world made her see red.

"Shall we be off, then?" Herakles gazed up at the small girl on his shoulder.

"Do it again!" Ilyasviel eagerly grinned, leaning up against his head.

"Are you sure?" Herakles rumbled, a bit embarrassed.

"Pleeeease?" Ilyasviel fluttered her silver lashes at the older man.

Herakles, the demi-god that had battled with the worst that the Age of the Gods had to offer, immediately crumbled before that gaze. "Well...alright."

'Children. My one true weakness,' He thought in a bit of amusement.

Why was he surrounded by little girls again?

Herakles mentally winced. He remembered the awkwardness when he had attempted to flirt a little with the two maids, only to find out that they were two years old chronologically, if not biological.

Homunculi were dangers creatures. In many, many ways.

Ilyasviel cheered as Herakles banished his weapon. He reached to the back of his tunic, and drew out a massively sized headdress. It was certainly eye catching with several large, white feathers contrasting against the leather strap of the headdress itself.

It stood out even more when Herakles tied the headdress up against his head.

"Remember that Leysritt is just lending this to us for now! We would have totally beaten them at chess but we have to be careful not to get it dirty, okay?" Ilyasviel eagerly asked.

"Of course," Herakles rumbled with a smile.

"Alright! I'll link our senses together so you know where that copycat is hiding then!" Ilyasviel cast a spell to link the two, her body lighting up beneath her elegant dress by a mass of magic circuits.

Herakles immediately gazed off to the east, and tensed his legs beneath him.

Ilyasviel yelped as Herakles took off in a giant leap. The ground thirty feet around his point of jumping collapsed into a deep crater. Both he and his Master soared through Fuyuki's night skies.

Herakles was able to make out their swift approach down on a building being swarmed by more of those filthy monsters.

* * *

A dark skinned young girl and a massive bronzed giant came crashing down through the roof of Ren's home at the same moment he struck his first blow. It nearly made him want to dive out of the way, but his armor soaked the damage as rubble smacked into him.

"The hell are you people?" The older man reached towards his vest, and drew out a small knife to stab it in the eye of one of the monsters trying to come for him. He struggled with both his chainsaw and the first victim he had turned it on. _**  
**_  
Ren's chainsaw naginata, which he realized probably needed more tweaking for actual combat, was currently stuck in the neck of the first zombie he had tried it out on.

"Herakles and I are here to kill the traitor!" The dark skinned girl cheerfully responded from on top of the man as rubble and dust settled. A few of the zombies decided to break rank to go towards the newcomers.

A rather shaky looking Saber began rising to her feet. A look of confusion and anger entered her green eyes. "You're not getting anywhere near Ilya!" To Ren's eyes, she then got into an overblown stance, and gripped nothing at all.

And- _hello!_

Ren gaped, wrenching his knife out of the eye socket of his own target as Saber swung horizontally. Three zombies that had been about to get to her and Ilya were instantly decapitated, then she offered the silver haired teenager a hand up.

Blood coated and displayed the shape of a invisible weapon in her other hand.

The chainsaw's engine sputtered off, and Ren's surprise gave him enough strength to wrench the chainsaw completely out of the neck of his first opponent. The zombie collapsed to the ground, spraying blood from its exposed wounds.

Ren began using his knife to keep the zombies away from him, and began to move closer through the crowd towards Ilya.

"You're not going to stop us!" The girl's words were backed up by her giant's words. He swung and messily reduced several attackers to gore. "The Einzbern legacy will be restored!"

At that same moment the young girl rose to her feet and showed herself to Ren, Saber, and Ilya.

"Ilya?" Ren shouted in surprise, ducking under a swiping slash from one of the women. The sharp nails bounced off his helmet long enough for him to dart forward, and stab her in the neck with his knife.

"It's Ilyasviel von Einzbern!" The young girl angrily replied just as he arrived by Saber and Ilya's side. The teenager was looking pale with fright at seeing her doppelganger. "I am the true self! That copy needs to return everything she st-"

"Move!" Saber pushed Ren and Ilya out into the backyard just as a new wave of zombies came barreling into his house from the streets. Their eyes flashed bright red, and the bronze giant and the young blonde both collapsed to their knees.

"Mmph!" Saber gagged, and lost her grip on whatever she had been holding. Ren quickly rushed up behind her, and grabbed her from around the shoulders. He tried to pull her into the backyard.

Ilya still looked like she was lost, still staring at the younger girl in horror.

"Herakles, what's wrong?" The young girl was desperately trying to rouse the giant. "Please speak to me!"

The crowd of zombies he hadn't crushed with his entrance began striking and biting at the bronze giant. Each of the blows tore more of his clothing off him, but wasn't nearly enough to get through the giant's skin. After a few moments they began to try and get easier prey, and tried and reach up towards the girl.

"It's prana! Those monsters are absorbing it from the Servants!" Ilya shouted as she snapped awake. Saber offered Ren a shaky smile, and she shook off her paralysis once the air in the backyard began to hit her.

A wet hiss rose up. A zombie charged across the kitchen towards them.

Saber brought up her hand, and clenched it around that invisible weapon. With a single and smooth motion, she pierced the monster straight through before flicking them off her weapon.

Ilyasviel glanced over at them for another moment, before she shrieked as one of the zombie's flailing arms grasped her around her ankle, and began to pull her down. "No! Help me, Herakles!" The young girl's pleading caused the massive giant to begin to tremble. But his paralysis held firm.

Ren wasn't going to stand to see a girl get eaten alive in front of him though.

"I'm going in." Ren snapped his eyes over at the two women, and headed back into the house. He was grabbed around the shoulders and torso, and hauled back by both of the females though.

"You can't go in there! You'll be killed!" Ilya shouted.

"Don't act as foolish as Master Shirou." Saber was the one who was pulling him back though. "She was our enemy. We cannot afford to show mercy to them when they clearly wish to kill Ilya."

"Well, that just makes me a dumbass, then!" Ren squirmed out of the foreign woman's weakened grasp.

"Uncle Ren!" Ilya shrieked as she was wrapped up in Saber's arms, and the two women leapt up towards the rooftops above. His chainsaw roared to life once again, and he dove into the thick crowd.

Ilya would be be safe with ...Shirou's mistress?

'Good going, Shirou. Good going.' The man lightly stabbed, and jabbed with his weapon as he tried to push the crowd away.

* * *

Herakles furiously roared in the inside of his mind, but he remained kneeling on the ground in a fit of paralysis. The shrieks and pleading of his Master rang hollowly in his ears, and he saw her try to fight back.

Ilyasviel's body, weakened as it was from being converted into the vessel to call down the Grand Holy Grail, could not physically put up a fight even with Reinforcement. So she began to rely on the alchemical strings that her mother had once used, shredding any limbs that tried to pull her down into the mob.

Yet even the strings were losing effectiveness the longer that they were in this field.

"Help..." Ilyasviel wept, trying to crawl up on top of his head to get away from the moaning crowds. A shudder of rage swept through Herakles' frame.

"Get the hell away from her!" The man that had moved to protect their target shouted.

Ren reached towards his vest, and threw a knife straight into the head of a particularly rotten zombie near Herakles.

It came crashing down at their feet, and Ren continued trying to clear a path towards them.

"A-ah?" Ilyasviel squeaked in shock.

Ren started using his weapons to bash aside the crowd - the spear was used to lightly grind across the face from out of range. Knifes stabbed out at the undead in middle range. Tasers applied to the neck dropped a few more when they got particularly grabby.

"You're a god, right?" Ren shouted over at Herakles. "What are you doing bowing to these filthy beasts?"

Another shudder of energy rushed through Herakles' paralyzed body. His fingers began to twitch as the human was pressed back by the mob of the undead.

"Get away!" Ilyasviel shrieked over at the man.

Ren was hammered from the side by one of the corpses. He smashed into a bookcase, and sent it crashing into the ground. The man's weapon went skidding away, and the spear landed next to Herakles.

Another shudder raced through Herakles at seeing the stranger fight so hard for his Master.

The corpse that took Ren unawares was knocked down with a swift kick to the leg. Ren started trying to get up, but several more bodies went down on top of him, and pinned him to the ground. Ilyasviel's screams rang in his head, but he reached for his vest to draw more weapons.

"Answer my prayers if there's anything in you that's even partly god...!" The man desperately slashed with two knives into the ground while they tried to rip him apart. "**Save the girl!**"

Ilyasviel's shriek was completely drowned out by Herakles' own roar. He fought off the paralysis holding him down. Herakles' right arm blurred, swiftly smashing away the crowd in front of him. His left hand was equally nimble as he grasped onto the weapon the man had wielded.

Like his stone club, it was filled with divine power the moment he touched it.

And it was going to be used just like his stone club.

"_NINE LIVES – THE SHOOTING HUNDRED HEADS!_" Herakles shouted, and his body flickered out of sight. Ilyasviel just started to descend towards the ground when every undead in the room was shredded into a fountain of gore.

The front wall of the building was completely annihilated in the following sonic boom.

The bronze giant reappeared before Ilyasviel had descended more than three inches. Herakles' massive hands lightly grasped onto the silver haired girl and a heavily wounded, but breathing, older man.

"Herakles..!" Ilyasviel hiccuped. Her eyes watered at seeing the wounded man slumped across Herakles' left shoulder.

"Let's go. We can still save him." Herakles wouldn't let his debt of honor go unpaid to this man. He lifted up Ilyasviel, and placed her on his right shoulder after carefully setting aside the warrior's spear down. Once he saw Ilyasviel secure herself with her prana strings, he picked up the spear with one hand and held onto his limp body with the other.

Herakles turned towards the missing wall, and took two steps before leaping high into the skies. The force behind his exit was strong enough to scatter the furniture in the ruined room. One of the books scattered across the floor was launched up against the turned over kotatsu and bounced off it.

The book flipped open to a page that displayed strange circles with odd writing on the side.

* * *

'Hahah. An old man completely wrecked your shit,' Shinji chortled, and had somehow found himself sitting down on an aluminum chair in the middle of an empty abyss.

_Fuck off._

The darkness around them rippled.

'Hoo. Even I didn't lose a legion to a little girl.' The blue haired teenager looked away. A powerful headache was beginning to form at the top of his skull the longer he stared out the eyes of the monster that had been lingering behind to stare at the Emiya home.

_I was doing it for you._

Shirou and a foreigner teenager laughing together as they coasted down a hill.

'Yeah. Like you 'empowered' my uncle, right?' Shinji sneered. The image bled together and lost definition. He saw Sakura collapse in front of a wildly thrashing and screaming man. Uncle Kariya's face was so warped and deformed...

_That was the past incarnation. Besides, he did get the power to fight in the Holy Grail War. He was just too much of a pussy to use it right. I swear he wasted me trying to save that bi- _

Little Sakura began to scream and beat on the older man's chest, tears running down her eyes once Uncle Kariya went still.

'Don't even finish that,' Shinji warned. His eyes focused as the point of view swiftly began to approach Sakura.

_Why do you care? You treated her like shit afterward._

The younger version of his adopted sister turned to face him. Her expression was always fearful back then. Her features twisted into a parody of the contorted death's grin that Uncle Kariya wore behind her even now.

The teenager remained silent. His expression turned dour as he stood up, and started walking around his chair. He ignored how he had placed his hand on her shoulder instead of striking her for mocking his uncle.

_Pissed off that 'little sister' had **your** relatives dying for her? It's always been about her, hasn't it?_

'Who was that little girl?' Shinji sighed, and ran his hands through his hair. A flash of memory briefly turned the void into an old first person picture of a smiling Ilya and her father. The picture was held by fingers a bit thinner and shorter than Shinji's own were. 'She looked too much like Ilya from those old pictures.'

_Thought so,_ the voice muttered. _Maybe a homunculus. Master has a similar art that lets you duplicate yourself after consuming something whole. _

'Wait...I'm your Master.' Shinji's eyes narrowed.

_…_

'...go after that copy of Ilya. I want to see how she's managing to stay sane,' Shinji ordered. The void began to shudder, and his point of view was roughly pushed behind the eyes of one of the females in the area.

_Yes._The woman shrieked painfully at the alien voice's response. The crest worms within her body flared as one. With a powerful leap, she went up to the rooftops as well.

Shinji felt the other infected rush towards the young girl and the bronze giant. The alien presence residing in the void with him began to direct the body they were riding to follow after both Ilya and her doppelganger

_Huh, what's this...?_ Their point of view sharply pulled back. Shinji gagged as he returned to seeing through the eyes of a person down by the Emiya home. A nine year old girl with short black hair and sherry eyes staggered around a corner. Her blue dress was slashed in the shoulder and revealed a black t-shirt beneath it. _I could use a pick me up..._

'What you doing?' Shinji demanded as the corpse they were inhabiting took a step forward.

* * *

Miyu Inui hadn't been prepared at all for what Fuyuki City had to offer. Just earlier this day, she had been planning her first 'vacation' ever with her brother.

Just like he had at this age - she was going to go visit a town just for a few hours, and then go back home.

How unfortunate that an earthquake had struck.

The young girl was the last legacy of her parents and was spoiled rotten by her two siblings, Arihiko Inui and Ichiko Inui.

Yet here she was in the middle of what seemed like the end of the world.

She clenched a wrinkled and stained letter in her right hand. On the cover of the envelop was a name – Alice, which was smudged.

'No, I came here to find him.' Those words had been her manna ever since the tour bus had been utterly annihilated by a hoard of ghoulish people when Miyu had arrived. Somehow, she had to survive long enough to find him.

A loud cry came up behind Miyu. The girl nearly shrieked in mortal terror, but sadly knew from first hand experience that doing that would just attract more monsters. She huffed and panted, racing across the broken streets, and swiftly took a corner.

Miyu's eyes quickly scanned the area, and found a knocked over trash can hidden in the shadow of an alley. She dashed with all her might towards the cover, slid her body behind the can, and prayed that the shadows would hide her.

Miyu silently shivered and waited. A pallid woman with clothing as torn up and dirty as her own glanced wearily about the street. The young girl's eyes focused on the razor sharp claws that liberally dripped a dark liquid in the night.

The woman glanced directly at Miyu, and the young girl nearly soiled herself on the spot. Her heart rapidly hammered up against the inside of her chest, and her hands rose to clutch at the front of her lightly shredded dress.

'What are you waiting for...?' Miyu wondered in horrified curiosity as the woman quirked her head. Her red eyes shone in the darkness, and the woman twitched her claws about in an odd pattern.

Wait...

Miyu's pupils shrunk, now hearing harsh breathing approach her from behind.

'She was signaling someone from behind!' Miyu let out a shriek of terror. She dove to the left just as a figure flew through the empty spot she had been crouching over. Miyu scrambled to her feet, and raced towards the only house lit up on the block, hearing a loud clatter of trash cans behind her.

Miyu sadly found that she couldn't make herself pause at seeing all the blood in the living room. She had been inured to the sight about one hour into her trip to Fuyuki. A feminine shriek behind her caused the girl to bolt ahead.

Only to slip on a slicked patched of blood. The young girl went tumbling forward, the top of her dress stopping its struggles as it was torn off her shoulders, and she fell face first in blood. She unintentionally swallowed some. The disgustingly noxious substance was thick and nasty as it poured down her throat.

Miyu began to gag, and she spun to look behind her to see the slowly approaching duo of undead that was leisurely pacing towards her. Her throat began to burn, and her eyes watered from a piercing pain that was stabbing into her brain.

'Am I going to die here?' She scrambled backwards. 'Help me! Arihiko! Ichiko...!' One of the beasts let out a howl of victory, and leapt towards her.

"SHIIIIIROU!" Miyu howled as her hand came down on top of a book. Her body flared up with heat, and it felt like her body was going to melt. Fire and light exploded out of her small body, and a visible wave of force exploded outwards from her pores in the form of yellow lightning.

A pillar of light erupted from the book she had been touching. A massive fist suddenly appeared out of the ether to smash a powerful blow into the corpse's head. The mostly rotten thing didn't stand a chance, and worms erupted out of its pulped skull as it flew back to smash into the woman that had been lingering behind.

A towering, muscular giant with flaming red hair wearing a rich and flowing cloak over his wide shoulders followed the arm in appearing in the world.

"I see you are being bothered by insects, Master." The man turned a confident gaze towards Miyu. "Would you like me to take care of them for you?"

* * *

_Wise up!_

_**Eeerrrokchtk!**_

Eeerrrorror!

Servant: Rider  
Spirit: Iskander (Alexander the Great)  
Master: Miyu Inui  
Alignment: Neutral Good  
Strength: B  
Mana: B  
Endurance: B+  
Agility: C  
Luck: A+

Class Skills:

Riding: A+  
Magic Resistance: C

Persona_**ckhhtt!**_

System Note: Warning! Warning! System Shutdown eminent to protect core.

War-


	16. Chapter 16

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 16: Heroism

_A bizarre incident occurred in the outskirts of a Japanese town called Fuyuki City. It was later revealed that the terrible disaster had been caused by the Holy Grail War. This was a magical ritual designed and implemented by the international cabal of Magi – The Mage's Association._

_The Association's special Enforcer, Bazette Fraga McRemitz, was unable to contain the Holy Grail War. A rogue element – a person claiming themselves to be the deceased Kotomine Kirei, a fallen Master from the Fourth War, managed to secure the Heroic Spirit Caster, and subverted the manager of the Holy Grail War, Caren Ortensia._

_Fuyuki City vanished by the first week of the Holy Grail War as a result of this and several other incidents. Yet the aftereffects of the Holy Grail War were far from being finished with me..._

* * *

In the background, the Emiya home was nothing but burnt ruins. The ash from its destruction reached high into the sky with all the rest.

Rin found herself starring down the gleaming edge of a katana a few inches in front of her nose. She noticed the weapon was chipped and stained as it trembled slightly in front of her face. And on seeing the empty eyes of her teacher, Taiga Emiya, wielding it, Rin didn't want to try and risk antagonizing her further.

"Why the care now, Shirou-kun? It was too late for...for..." Taiga hiccuped.

'_I'm weak._'

Rin wanted to say something. Anything to reply to the outrageous claim of this woman.

"...yes." She heard a masculine voice come out of her mouth instead. She turned, and began to walk away.

'_But I'm a coward._'

So she stood at the precipice. Her life had narrowed down to two choices. She could stay here and fight alongside Taiga, or she could run.

"...let me go with you." The words flowed out of her mouth by themselves. The expression on Taiga's face was priceless. Even if -R҉̢̛͠͝E̢̛͟͢R̵̢̛̕͢R͠͞R̸͏̡͜ E͜͡R̵̸̕O̧͏R̶͝R͏̸͘҉O҉̵̧͜҉R̴̨͡

**GET. OUT.**

Rin felt her mind be flung away into a tumbled blur of kaleidoscopic colors. Images assailed her from every conceivable angle, and her brain furiously worked to try and decipher where she had found herself after the earth had collapsed on top of her and her...clan? Family? Brood?

She felt her soul strain and fray at the edges, the faint legacy of vampirism in her bloodline and her very Origin as a person began to competing to redefine her. Blinding power pummeled her from all sides. Yet two possibilities fairly leapt out of the sea of chance towards her, even as the pressure was growing to the point it would shatter her.

Clearly a choice. But Rin was finding that being greedy may not be a bad thing. Ever since _he_ had appeared.

Both points of view expanded before her eyes.

* * *

The catacombs were large and cavernous. Almost like the result of a giant tentacle that had molested the earth itself. Considering what he knew about the World and its quirks, it might be feasible for it to someday call something new to take care of its bitchy needs.

Shirou Urobuchi found himself fully returning to the land of the living. Any remaining groggy thoughts in his head were banished when he glanced down at his body. He frowned at finding himself clad in a black jacket over a dark vest.

More importantly, Shirou found himself lying on top of his Master. As he drew himself off her and rolled a bit to the side, he felt his weaker body protest. He reached up to the side of her neck.

Rin moaned beneath him as he checked her vitals. He sighed in relief.

'Don't scare me like that,' he silently thought towards the slim girl, and stood up.

'Well, that didn't go exactly to plan,' The heroic spirit mused. He looked over to see a large mass of earth collapsed over the exit to the underground caves beneath the Tohsaka residence. 'Damn that guy's luck stat.'

Shirou quickly found Medusa had shielded Sakura. On close inspection, he found his second shocking discovery on immediately waking back up from the land of the blissfully comatose.

'Her hair is black again?' His eyes widened. 'But the only way it could have done that is if...'

Shirou gasped, and turned to look around the surroundings. But he knew in his heart of hearts what had happened.

Tarnhelm...Zelretch had become a Broken Phantasm.

"Goddam-" Shirou's soft curse quickly cut off as he slapped his hands against his mouth and nose. He was assaulted by a foul smell when he had taken a deep breath to begin his Litany Against Murphy's Law.

His eyes narrowed, and knelt down by Medusa and Sakura's side. The smell, which was as rotten to his magical senses as Medusa's new prana was fresh and clean, started near Sakura's head. He shifted Medusa off her Master, and turned Sakura over. Dried blood coated her lips and the area around her mouth like a cheap vampire.

A large sized pool of blood rimmed around the edge of a small hole. His nostrils flared up, and his face twisted in a grimace when the muscles around his neck and chest clenched as they attempted to make him gag.

'Too bad I've smelled worse in my day.' Shirou reached into his coat, and drew out a tiny gemstone. He gently pried Sakura's eyelids open. The gemstone faintly lit up as he let a tiny bit of prana activate the charms weaved within. He sighed in relief as they twitched, seeing that her plum colored eyes still reacted to the light.

Shirou felt his nose twitch, following the foul scent moving away from the area. He gave the three unconscious females one more glance, before he reached into his coat, and threw out three more crystal fragments.

They lit up to surround the three of them in a field. He went to find out where that distorted power was coming from. Possibly kill it too if it turned out to be something he knew was related to Sakura.

He wondered if Grandpa Zouken would mind dining with him in hell.

* * *

Shirou Urobuchi waited. The lights above him in the reinforced part of the warehouse blinked and sparked off. There was **something** out there. He couldn't see anything, but he could smell something foul in the air. Somehow he got the feeling he had expected them for years now.

"This is Bazette!" The stones a ways in front of him cracked. "We're about to pull you out."

'Thank god.' Shirou hopped to his feet as the final piece of earth shattered before a powerful ...and familiar crimson spear.

"Hey there!" Lancer smiled at him with shiny teeth.

'Oh good. I can put the fresh air to good use...' The redhead thought.

"AAAH! I DON'T WANT TO BE THE ZOMBIES!" Shirou yelled, scrambling backwards. Lancer laughed as a maroon haired woman in a business suit squeezed past the blue haired man.

"Don't be like that." She glanced over at him with a frown. That's when his brain connected her voice to the woman who was calling herself Bazette a moment ago.

"You're a boy. So you have to toughen up, okay?" Bazette chided Shirou with a wag of her fingers.

"Uhm..." Shirou saw that Lancer was amusedly grinning at him. "Okay."

"It's fine. We're on the same side. For now." Lancer's eyes glinted with mirth.

"Stupid cultist," Shirou grumbled. Lancer's smile grew strained as all three made their way back up top.

"Heh. Now you're learning," Bazette chuckled from in between him and Lancer. Then Shirou was greeted by hell.

"G-gah! The hell is that smell?" Shirou nearly retched once the night air struck his face. A disgustingly even mix of sweet honey and fresh dung assaulted his senses. His eyes watered, and he stumbled away from the hole in the yard only to get caught up by a bear hug by Taiga.

"You're alive! You're really alive!" Taiga's warm eyes overflowed with tears.

"I was only down there for like...four hours tops." Shirou's sense of smell sharply died down when he stared at the older brunette in surprise.

"Really...? Felt like four days to me," Taiga mused, ruffling his hair before letting him go. Shirou was able to see that there were all manner of unsavory types surrounding him. The most unsavory of which was his cold, stone faced teacher – Kuzuki Souichirou.

"Sensei."

"Urobuchi-kun."

Both men nodded at each other genially. Shirou glanced past him, and briefly looked at a rather attractive woman in flowing robes. Sort of Bazette's opposite number, really. Looked pretty weak, despite the full figure.

'Still...thank you from keeping him from murdering us all.' Shirou gave her a small prayer of thanks. Oddly, the woman seemed somewhat amused.

"Sensei's girlfriend." The redhead acknowledged the way the woman was hanging off Kuzuki with a smile. Well, good. Someone had finally given Kuzuki a way to vent. He had been worried for a while there that he was some sort of professional assassin or serial killer that'd one day snap. "Thank you for taking care of sensei."

"Ah, I can see why Souichirou-sama wanted to come out and protect his students." The woman smiled beneath her hood charmingly. "You can call me Caster."

"Ah, you can call me Shirou." The redhead heard a faint grumble behind him from Lancer.

"Well, you did try to run him through a while ago..." Bazette's louder response to the man privately amused Shirou. But something Caster said set Shirou on edge, though.

"Wait, what do you mean by protect?" Shirou's question caused the others to grow grim. _Kiritsugu_ moved towards his side.

"Shirou-kun, we have an incid-" Kiritsugu suddenly gazed up. His face went pale in shock.

The stench that had been lingering in the back of his mind all along swelled to the forefront.

"_SHIROU!_" Ilya's scream automatically made both him and Kiritsugu race towards the door of the house. Several pair of feet sounding up behind him let him know the others were following after him and Ilya's father.

The gate to the front door shattered as Saber, her arm wrapped around Ilya protectively, came barreling through with several deep lacerations, and clothed only in her sky blue dress. The armored pieces were nowhere to be seen.

Shirou was running towards the two of them before he could stop himself. He dove into a slide to slip between the two. Shirou's eyes flew to inspect them. Ilya and Saber looked alright at first glance, but...

_A hateful snarl reached his ears._

"Get down!" Ilya shrieked, and clutched at his shirt. He was jerked forward, nearly bumping his head against hers as a loud bang rocked the crowded hallway, and brought him back to reality. The sounds of shouts rang about.

And Shirou's tunnel vision faded - on the other end of the exit outside was a large crowd of zombies of every shape and size. Several of them were being kept back by what appeared to be blurs being fired by Lancer, yet...

Heading the pack was a fifteen foot tall giant built of hulking muscles and deformed skin. Worms rapidly crawled along the surface of its exposed body. A loud crash exploded off to the yard as stone was shattered.

Hate bubbled up in his gut, and Shirou's blood began to boil. All around him chaos reign, but his own space seemed to be the eye of the storm.

This was going to be a problem.

But that was fine. He could solve practical problems.

Or he could always picture something that could.

'_Henshin!_'

* * *

Rin awoke with a startled gasp. Her head pounded as she shook her head, and staggered to her feet. In the back of her mind, she could feel two distinct paths ebb and flow into her soul.

'Urobuchi-kun...' She had to go after her Servant first. Then...well...

It was time to do her duty as Manager of Fuyuki, and put those warped souls to rest. She rushed up to shake both Medusa and Sakura awake.

* * *

Shirou snarled, diving past a weave of shadow magic. His pitch black fedora flew into the air, and a few of his white locks of hair were snipped by a multi-legged insectoid horrors summoned by the fleeing worm.

Something had definitely gone wrong here. Zouken actually had a small bit of access to that horror.

He pushed himself off the ground, and two gleaming silver daggers swept out from beneath his jacket's long sleeves. His reinforced muscles catapulted him high over the snapping jaws of the bug beneath him.

He glanced down, the monster crunched through a mouthful of stone with negligent ease before he began to descend blade first. The reinforced knives slid into the exoskeleton of the monster as smoothly as silk. He twisted the weapons so their curved, serrated edges could do the most damage possible.

Shirou went with the flow as the beast howled angrily, and flung him off in the direction he had been running towards anyway. In mid-flight he tugged his hands, causing a thin line of prana connecting him to his blades to shake in a specific way.

The _Ansuz_ rune, a modified rune of communication, and one of the original eighteen runes of Odin, triggered. The knifes visibly glowed beneath the exoskeleton of the beast, and then expanded into massive fireballs within the body of the monster.

'God, I love that Irish bastard.' Only Cú Chulainn or his mentor could have modified the original eighteen runes of Odin so each took on combat applications. He once again thanked the blue haired hero for noting all of his work down so the future could have even more ways of blowing shit up.

Shirou continued racing after the foul stench that signified a very frightening mix of Zouken and Angra Mainyu. As he left the dark tunnels' faintly lit structure behind, the catacombs his oxfords were rapidly beating upon quickly gave way to a more natural tunnel system.

No enchanted gemstone were buried in these stone walls to light the path. Only darkness stretched ahead of him.

A familiar itch rose in the back of his head. Shirou trusted his body to know how to react, and dove through a weave of razor sharp lances of darkness. The defenses weaved into his dark suit and jacket were nothing to the combination of the Makiri's Absorption Magicks, and the Imaginary Numbers that Zouken had seemingly inherited from Sakura.

Several wet splashes of blood stained the ground from deep lacerations along his body. Even while his body jerked and twitched from his wounds, he continued pushing down the path he knew had the possibility of victory behind it.

He leapt, his entire body flipping upside down as he vaulted over a set of lances that had been aiming to reduce everything below his knees to bloody ribbons. Shirou lashed out with a set of four knives, and embedded them in the ceiling. Using them as a focus, he triggered the _Kenaz_, rune of transformation, in the knives to harden the earth they were stabbed into enough so they could support his weight.

Shirou grunted. His arms tensed as he leveraged himself upwards on four prana strings connected to his knives. He felt the shadow lances tremble below, and they began to slowly grow upwards.

Most likely to try and finish the job of piercing him through. Bitches.

Shirou began to slowly swing back and forth once he decided he had climbed high enough. To help his momentum, he kicked outwards. His dark pants fluttered, and his steel toed oxfords shined in the gloom of the cave.

'Urobuchi-kun, are you alright!' Rin's voice came out loud and clear. Ah, if only he could hear such concern when he wasn't dangling over a pit of sentient shadows. 'I'm feeling you actually take prana from me now.'

Shirou let go of the two strings in his left hand, immediately dropping a foot downward. The extra bit of motion was added to his swing, though. The shadows pulsed down below, and he felt his prana begin to dip low. The strings holding him up began to fray as well as their essence was drawn towards the pit below...

The white haired man scooped up a handful of blood from where it was bleeding out of his black jacket. Shirou curled his entire body into the last swing once his left hand was filled to the brim with blood.

'Just fine. Your selfish Servant is going to be borrowing some more, Master,' Shirou playfully responded. Best not to get her worried.

'Wait, what are you planning?' He ignored Rin's voice. Afterall, she could always peek through his eyes and violate his privacy if it was that important.

Shirou's hand flashed outwards once the ceiling came into range. He quickly slapped his palm against it, causing an wet slap to echo in the area. The blood quickly crawled across the ceiling towards the four knives, while the strings in his right hand completely faded and dropped him at the same time.

He twisted his body so his legs were aimed below him, while the final rune carved into the knives, _Algiz_ – the rune of warding, activated with the blood offer. The steel shone supernaturally bright, and they bannished the unnatural shadows in this section of the cave system.

'Master, Medusa's opposite number is definitely hiding in the cave system with us.' Shirou winced as he landed on the ground with an unsteady wobble. Boy, that had taken a hefty donation.

'Why are you acting so blasé? Those things nearly killed you a dozen times over!' So, apparently she had violated his privacy. Dirty pool, Rin. Dirty pool. 'I sensed that too!'

'Like a card shark.' Shirou decided to complete his damnation. It at least gave him a moment to rest.

'Hmph.' The white haired man grinned. He called his black felt fedora back to his side with a focus of will. Best not let it get chewed up by any of the centipede's relatives. It appeared in his right hand, and he smoothly slipped it up on top of his head.

'Tell Medusa to keep her senses peeled. Sakura's grandfather is down here.' Shirou took a deep sniff. His stomach curled in on itself at his action, but he was able to get a bead on Zouken again. 'He's heading towards Fuyuki Central Park with enough power to burn a good part of the town into ash.'

'I saw while I was unconscious...' Rin hesitantly replied. 'Urobuchi-kun...what are you doing here? In that form?'

Shirou was silent. He lightly bit on the inside of his cheek. 'Is Sakura...alright?'

'She's confused,' Rin slowly admitted.

A loud shriek rang up ahead.

'We'll have to cut this short, Master.' Shirou called out the last two daggers he had. Up ahead were a trembling pair of nearly rotten corpses. Large portions of their bodies wiggled like jello, and what appeared to be transparent sacks of gray worms wiggled about open sores.

He could feel the disgust of his Master flowing through their shared connection. The pair of undead walked towards him in jerky and halting steps.

Shirou simply clashed the edges of his knives together. A spark was lit in response as he triggered the _Ansuz_ and _Kenaz _runes together. A tiny bit of happiness was ignited within him, while large flames were expelled from his knives.

Not quite Kanshou and Bakuya...but it'd do.

Shirou rushed towards the two of them, his oxfords kicking up small dust clouds. One of the undead raised a hand at the end of a particularly deformed arm. The large sack that had replaced his shoulder blade wobbled once, before a torrent of fluid squirted out of his palm, and streamed towards Shirou.

The Servant decided to spare his Master the universal feeling of 'grody' that all girls felt at seeing stuff like this. His knives swung in a blur while he rushed ahead with all the frightening speed he had both in life and, especially, in death. Worms screamed their useless cries, dying from the rapidly weakening flame or just the steel itself cleaving through them.

A large amount of them were smacked aside by his rapidly fraying sleeves when he brought up his arms to bat the fat familiars away from his person. Still he found that fortune didn't favor this charge. The second undead began leani-_Hello_.

As the second monster began warping his neck, Shirou smacked his right foot down hard in front of him, just before its head whipped straight at him. His right foot came down on the cave floor, and he threw his whole body to the left as razor sharp teeth snapped at where his right eye had just been a few moments ago.

'Don't cut me out like that!' Rin came back on the line as he soared to the left. The draining goop from from the first undead splashed harmlessly on the seco...nd?

"This...might be a problem," Shirou admitted as the second undead began to swell up in size, and the worms covering his body began to glow with a dark inner light. The amount of solid flesh remaining on the undead turned into transparent gel, while the worms within began to grow and multiply. The second of his attackers swelled to a little over ten feet in height, and glared at him with angry red eyes.

The first undead collapsed to the ground. It looked completely desiccated, and was utterly motionless now. The second beast let out a bellow, and lashed out with two gelatinous arms towards the Servant. Another dizzying wave of weakness brought Shirou to his knees. His ability to recover prana from the rich amount of mana in the atmosphere was overcome by the beast's ability to suck it away from him.

"_Elemkia Lance!_" Rin and Sakura's voices roared, and a spear of light swept the shroud of fog over his senses away, and it pierced straight into and then through both of the monster's arms from the side. Pieces of goo splashed about, and the smell of burning trash filled the room. The lance rushed onwards to harmlessly splash off the side of the cave.

The beast let out a confused howl as it staggered backwards. Both Rin and Sakura stood in between him and the monster. Both girls were holding their hands together, the Tohsaka crest on Rin's left arm blazing in defiance to the giant.

"You can take a break for now, Hero. We have you covered." Medusa swept up next to Shirou with a warm smile, and she knelt down next to him to offer him a hand. He briefly glanced from her expression towards the two sisters, just as another spear of light began to gather in between the two.

"...I suppose you do." Shirou smiled, and reached up to grasp Medusa's offered hand.

* * *

Sakura paused as an awkward silence had descended upon the group. The four of them had begun moving quickly through the dark tunnels after her grandfather. Both Rin and herself were leading the group ahead, with their Servants accessing their senses while the four of them navigated with the two sister's eyesight.

Ever since she had awoken, the darkness had parted before her gaze like it was nothing. For the first time in years, Sakura felt like her senses weren't being muffled under a heavy blanket. Relaxing heat flowed through her veins whereas others would start feeling claustrophobic chills as the damp walls of the caves closed in on them.

Sakura wasn't sure what to make of it all, but she quite frankly didn't want to fret about it anymore. She just had to make sure to keep Rin in line. From the smug grin on her older sister's face, she'd have to use the dredges of the absorption abilities she had as a Matou sooner rather than later to keep the earth from collapsing on them.

Those new spells that her older sister were displaying were downright frightening when empowered by the massive swell of mana that was rushing down the same path they were walking. Apparently the awakening of Medusa's divine nature had overloaded Tarnhelm. This in turn had caused the ley lines beneath Fuyuki to go wild.

Sakura knew more than enough about her grandfather's character. She knew he could do terrible things if they allowed him to get to where the excess mana were flowing towards. Especially when he was desperate now that he had been driven out of her body.

If the person claiming to be Archer was correct, then Grandfather Zouken had basically lost his final chance to gain immortality. She faintly shuddered at the memories of what she had gone through to get her body converted.

Sakura decided to try and forget that for now by focusing on Archer.

The man looked radically different. His hair was still the same shocking white, and height was also unchanged, but he had shed the majority of his muscle mass. Where before, his body rippled with strength and confidence, now he strode ahead patiently, slinking about the darkness.

It was perhaps an attitude born of having been carrier of the Crest Worms for so long. She really shouldn't even think about it that way thanks to her time with Shinji, but to her rather distorted viewpoint...

Archer no longer looked as dependable.

A knot of guilt twisted itself in Sakura at her treacherous thoughts. Who was she to judge on appearances? This was still the same person that had helped her, right? That even now was trying to stop Grandfather Zouken.

Sakura's eyes lingered on his jet black clothes that drooped off his figure a bit, and then at how pale his sharp features were now.

Apparently Archer caught her look – he gave her a bit of a strained smile and an awkward laugh. "Yeah. Not quite rocking the Messiah's charisma anymore, am I?" He tried to joke.

Sakura flushed and glanced at Medusa. Rin took this as the beginning of actual discussion, and they began to move through the tunnels at a slower rate.

"What did you think you were doing?" Rin angrily told her Servant. "You should have consulted us instead of heading out on your own."

"I can't risk that. The last time you came upon this guy you died. Zouken is just too much of a coldhearted monster to fight up front. Even with your new ability to shoot bullets with your mind." Archer shook his head, and crossed his arms. He seemed to realize his words, and tried to soften them. "Which I'm ridiculously happy to see you learn, Master. That's how I started too."

'Who are you?' Sakura wanted to scream. 'You know Grandfather too? You know what happened to me?'

Sakura's gaze sharpened into an intense laser, scrutinizing the man desperately from head to toe in search of familiar features. She digested his appearance, feeling a tug at seeing his new, sherry eyes...

'Master...he said he knew you...' Medusa carefully began. Sakura's heart began to rapidly beat. Wait, those eyes. The ease he had going into her home before she had crossed his path. There was only one person that she knew that both applied to.

"Last time? Tell me ...was it all true? That dream I had about your past!" Rin walked up to him, and clenched her fists around his dark vest and the white under shirt. "Was it really true? How did you come back here?"

"Who...are you?" Sakura's voice trembled.

"I'm...um...Shirou Urobuchi," The white haired man nervously chuckled. He closed his eyes as he dipped his head. "Sorry about this?"

Sakura wobbled as her vision whited out, and then she fell.

* * *

The air was rich with a disgusting mix of cleanliness and trash. The smell had grown thick and overwhelming when Shirou had triggered his magic circuits, but he couldn't afford to shut them down now.

"_Atlas!_" Caster's spells tore through the charging line of undead rushing towards Shirou, Kuzuki, Bazette, and Lancer. Shirou could hear Kiritsugu aiding the witch in trimming the hoard's numbers down through force of arms, and the four of them primarily focused on keeping the walls from being breached.

Saber had planted herself in the front entrance to hold the line there, as Taiga had taken Ilya and pulled her to the back. Anything that approached her and the invisible Excalibur were cleanly cleaved apart as she held her spot.

"Hold things down for a little while longer!" Taiga shouted, drawing Ilya into her arms, and raced back upstairs.

Kuzuki fell into a smooth groove as he moved to support Bazette. The maroon haired woman moved like a demon. Her blows rendered everything to a pulp when she drew in close and personal with the monsters. Those trying to go after the dark haired man found themselves just as easily destroyed when he calmly and effortlessly broke them down with lightning fast moves that came from wildly unpredictable directions.

It was hard to tell which of the two was the deadlier menace.

"Caster, cover the eastern wall!" Kiritsugu's shout could be heard above the howl of the undead, and the sound of his gun going off stopped.

Lancer was a blur as he danced around like a devil in the melee. His spear was aimed to swiftly stab through hearts with great skill, and he single-handedly held his own part of the home by himself. When there was an opening in the flow of bodies, he'd be gone in the blink of an eye. Once that happened the crowd would quickly be dispersed by a rain of stone from above.

Shirou was trying his hardest to match Lancer's foot speed as he tore across the yard. His goal was to manage the flow of the crowd. All he could do at the moment was directing less of the crowd away from Saber and more towards Caster, since her attacks were wiping out whole crowds at once.

The redhead dove past the razor sharp claws of one of the grayish toned females that had been converted. Her rail thin and bizarrely elongated arms smacked hard into the ground as she attempted to strike at the spot he had been at only a few moments ago. He completed his dive, and scooped up a stone.

With a hard flick of his wrist, he smashed it into her forehead with a loud crack. Shirou rose to his feet, and charged at her as she began to wail like a petulant child, and completed his attack by thrusting his palm hard against her sternum.

"Kindly step out of the property!" Shirou breathed out towards the dazed woman, and pressed into the blow.

The zombie gagged for a moment, before she was launched away from Shirou and through a crowd of zombies with all the power his reinforced muscles could generate. Monsters were sent pinballing away, and the largest of them finally rushed at him.

Shirou gave a worrying glance when several of the zombies turning and opening fire with some thick gel at some of their other allies. But he set the thought aside as the ground began to rapidly tremble beneath his feet, just before he was bodily checked by the monster.

"SSSSHHHIIIRRRROOOOUUU!" The giant roared as it carried the teenager straight through the backyard. Several attacks blasted into the thick muscles and squirming worms the monster was seemingly made of from wholecloth. Yet none of them stopped the charge of the monster, and both it and Shirou were sent crashing through into the dojo.

'That voice...!' Shirou's eyes widened in surprise.

The redhead's breath exploded out of him, and he was finally sent flying to bounce up against the back of the dojo. The shrine in the back shattered under his weight, and incense and a portrait of Ilya's mother bounced to the ground next to him in pieces.

"Shi-shinji?" Shirou hacked as his body trembled. He could feel the surge of Avalon trying to heal him dissipate under the hateful gaze of that giant.

The beast's exposed muscles gushed fluids out onto the floor along with a tiny trickle of blood from gunshot and sling induced wounds. Wounds that were closing, even as rotten and burnt chunks of flesh and dead worms were pushed out of the giant's body. It raised a meaty fist and brought it down on Shirou's side with the same speed as before.

Shirou screamed as he felt several of his ribs snap under the monster's blow. Colors briefly inverted, and his heart skipped a beat as shards of agony raced from his side throughout his body.

Yet the monster wasn't done with him. It grabbed onto his shirt from the side, and used it to leverage him upwards. The monster glared into his eyes, and in that moment Shirou couldn't see anything of his acquaintance at all in those angry and hungry eyes.

He desperately tried to flood his body with prana to Avalon to trigger like it had in his dream. But it was worthless in the grasp of this beast. He could feel his body's od be sucked out through that connection, and his body began reverting back to the strength and durability he had as just another human.

Probably so he could get crushed at Shinji's leisure.

"What the hell happened to you...?" Shirou muttered in shock.

"B**eE**_**eT**__Te_R." A unified shout went up from the crowd and the giant in front of him. The monster gripping him leered hungrily.

A bullet cracked the air.

The beast roared as its entire frame shook. More rapidly shot bullets echoed in the dojo as the giant holding Shirou up staggered forwards. Shirou could visibly see the white flesh blacken and flake off through the front.

The giant's hand spasmed open, and dropped Shirou. He spun, and smashed Kiritsugu with the back of his fist. The gunner skidded back into the yard, and a long barreled pistol clattered uselessly on the ruined porch as the massive beast crouched low, and flung himself after the older man.

Kiritsugu disappeared from where he landed with a snap of displaced air when the giant's fist smashed down into the spot he had lying down on. He reappeared a few feet away visibly drained on his feet, and with a look of agony on his face.

'I have to help him!' Shirou harshly gasped. He crawled towards the weapon left discarded on the ground. Avalon was slowly deadening the pain, returning grace to his motions as he scooped the fire-_Thompson Contender_-arm up.

It was too unwieldy for Shirou's hands though. Still, his prana continued surging across the Thompson Contender's frame, and his shaky grip on it quickly firmed before his eyes. The redhead quickly checked the weapon, and found there was only one shot left.

Could he really take it down with - _Origin Bullet_ - one shot?

'Why the hell not?' The redhead poured his power into that bullet. His magic surged down the weapon and into the final shot. He felt the energy soak into the imperfections in the round. Filling it with his own power - tinted with his Origin.

"Shinji!" Shirou shouted, and brought the gun up level to the giant. Prana surged up and down his arms smoothing out their jerking motions. The weapon was brought up to bear while the giant turned towards him.

"Guh...?"

Shirou fired. The massive kickback forced the redhead to stagger back two steps, even as prana flared up his arms and into the bullet. The bullet flashed before tearing through the giant's skull, and out the other side in a burst of yellow light.

The desiccated and mostly eaten corpse at the center of the hive crashed to the ground amongst chunks of raw meat as the worms shrieked and squirmed. The entire crowd wailed and screamed as one, and several undead collapsed amidst their howling. Others, which were apparently more worm than man, erupted in piles of screeching worms.

Screams rang out throughout the night as Shirou calmly walked over towards a squirming pile of worms. One of them wasn't screaming at the moment, and it stared up at the approaching redhead. He brought his foot up, then swiftly brought it down on top of that one.

"Don't network everything together if you have a shitty firewall protecting it," Shirou spat out.

* * *

_Too much! Toomuch!TOOMUCH!_ The voice that Shinji had been struggling with yelled madly, even as the void around him began to fracture. Images of far off places he had never been to began to blend with local scenery.

"What's going on?" Shinji demanded, slapping his hands down over his ears. Shrieks, pained moans, and death rattles from the youngest of children to the oldest simultaneously flooded his eardrums. A loud ringing muffled it, and he felt thick liquid pour out of his ears as he crouched in on himself for protection.

_Mashelpmeter!_ The personification of Shinji's familiars let out another scream. The images in the void began to swirl into a chaotic portrait of everything and anything the worms had access to within the hive of bodies. It was a portrait of madness the likes of which were fracturing Shinji's psyche.

"Disconnect, you foolish creatures! Now!" Shinji roared, and desperately clenched his eyes shut. But the token resistance was nothing before the onslaught of information, and his mind was battered by the wave of countless lives.

_Master Zouken!_

Shinji desperately tried to clutch at something familiar. Anything to ground himself in this storm of madness. An opening presented itself in the wildly surging monsoon of information around Shinji.

Shinji eagerly dove to escape the madness. The darkness of unconsciousness consumed him.

…

Everything ached.

Shinji awoke to find himself lying on his side in a pool of dirty brown water. He immediately began choking on the water when his surprise at seeing dark shapes swim on the surface caused him to snort some of the murky water up his nostrils. He gagged and hacked, and sat up with the maximum amount of thrashing possible.

His wild motions quickly drew his attention to the immediate differences in the length and tone of his arms. A shiver went down his spine, his wide eyes following the path from the thin and graceful looking fingers up bare arms down to a flat and exposed chest. A quiet murmur of despair came out of his mouth when his gaze fixed between his legs.

A certain piece of his anatomy was gone now.

Dread began to build, and Shinji glanced out at his surroundings with clearing eyes. Countless numbers of niches were carved into the brown walls of the Matou clan's workshop. Insects crawled about everywhere, and the larger ones crawled up the walls into and out of the holes carved in the walls.

Shinji could hear wet slurping and dry crunching above his head. It was loud enough that it could be heard over the wing beats of countless insects.

Shinji glanced up. A thick and disgustingly sweet smelling glob of meat and drool landed down on his face as an insect about twice the size of a human flew past him. The beast continued to drool as it flew with its passenger. Clutched tightly onto the underside of its body was the top half of a human being.

The corpse looked like it had been shredded to pieces from the waist downwards, and the insects' serrated claws held onto the top half carefully. The large insect seemed to be heading towards one of the higher niches.

He wiped the gore off his face in dull horror. He silently stared as the insect flew in first, and then dragged in the body. The shattered point of the corpse's spine was the last thing to vanish into the dark hole.

The constant and low droning buzzing surrounding him lodged into the back of his brain.

Shinji leapt to his feet, vision swarming in in and out of clarity as he pressed up his soft palms up against his eyes. He shook his head to try and regain control, and began to stumble towards the staircase.

The rapid wing beat of one of the insects passed him by closely.

Shinji looked up and let out a scream of terror as one of the more mutated of the insects down here hovered just a few feet away. He stumbled backwards when razor sharp mandibles clicked two inches away from his nose. The youth's left ankle wrenched beneath him, twisting him backwards from the snapping jaws, but he lost control over his balance, and toppled off to the side of the staircase.

With one last desperate shriek, Shinji crash landed in the murky depths of the water in the workshop again. Two men's laughter rang up from all around the workshop, their amusement echoing around the cavernous room.

Shinji gagged as he sat out water, and went up on his hands and knees. He shuddered when a centipede slid out from the water he spat out and wiggled off into the depths of the workshop. The teenager looked up as a set of loud splashes signaled the approach of an healthy young man with rich blue hair, and smokey blue eyes.

Byakuya Matou stood out like a star to Shinji's dazzled eyes, his father still stylishly dressed like he always remembered. A charismatic aura was draped around his father's form that made him envy the man. The murk and disease that clung thickly to the workshop and to his own changed body seemingly couldn't keep a hold on him.

'Father...'

Byakuya's thigh high boots continued splashing about in the murk of the water. In direct contrast, Zouken moved about the surface like a wraith. He and his cane appeared to move on top of the water as they approached him. Yet both men were wearing queer little smiles as they gazed on Shinji.

"...f-father? W-what are you doing?" The earlier sense of dread began to return three fold when Byakuya's gaze moved from Shinji's face down towards something below his back.

"So, this little girl will be my understudy, eh? You sure know how to twist the knife, father." Byakuya calmly gazed over at Zouken.

"Ah, but we must move onwards. Kariya has lost the war. We must now go and accelerate the time table with young Sakura." The old man's face twisted in pleasure. A dark tone entered his voice, and his boney fists tightened around the end of his cane. "You will do your duty. Or you will find yourself entertaining less...pliant experiments than this one."

Byakuya's skin tone went white when the horrific insect guarding the staircase buzzed its wings angrily.

Zouken cackled as he turned his gaze towards Shinji. "Now, do you know why you are down here?"

Shinji opened his mouth to speak, but words he didn't hadn't formulated sprang from his lips. "I-I was asleep..."

"Hmph. Only good as raw materials. No brain at all," Zouken sneered.

Byakuya cleared his throat while Shinji sat up. "My brother is gone." His words caused Shinji's heart to clench. "He was the only remaining Matou with the potential for magic."

"U-uncle..." Shinji whimpered. He felt the pain freshly surge through him once again.

"He died because of you." Zouken's words slapped Shinji in the face, and made him pull back in horror. He looked up towards the niche at the highest point of the wall in this tomb. Despite himself, Shinji looked up. "Now he's nothing but food for the insects."

A loud crunch echoed in the workshop. Byakuya closed his eyes. Shinji gagged as he remembered the fresh body...

"Aaaah?" Shinji let out a low pitched and anguished moan of realization. Zouken's cackles echoed in his ears when he frantically scooped up water and splashed himself over and over on the face, trying to scrub off the blood and guts of his uncle from his face.

"It's too late for this generation." Zouken's voice dryly continued, even as Shinji's face ached from when he tried to scratch at at it in his attempts to clean himself. The old man's voice hissed in pleasure. "You'll help usher in a better generation of Matou though."

"...get up, Sakura." Byakuya reached down, and firmly pulled her to her feet. Shinji's skin began to burn at the contact with his father's hands. Liquid heat flowed through his veins from the point of contact with his strong fingers, and he began to pant.

"Ah, it's good to see the new Crest Worms are taking effect already. The ones that survived Kariya's foolish attempts at controlling Berserker were worthy enough to join the hive inside you." Zouken's head split in two from the length of his twisted smirk. "Byakuya, go ahead and begin the calibrations on the worms. I don't want her dying on me from lack of prana."

"Wha...what are you doing?" Shinji's voice trembled, fear surging through his body as he was firmly pushed towards the darkest part of the workshop by his father. The man kept a stoney expression on his face. "F-father...?"

"...I'm sorry, Sakura." The older man reached towards the crotch of his designer pants. The sound of the zipper being drawn down echoed in Shinji's hypersensitive ears.

…

"Foolish boy. Useless until the end." Zouken angrily hissed when he felt Shinji's mind fold in on itself. The weakling hadn't even lasted the first day of Sakura Matou's training.

At least the crest worms had done good work while they were attached to Shinji. Still, they had been driven to gibbering madness by that conceptual weapon wielded by Shinji's friend. The magus found it rather intriguing that a single bullet had contained that much raw data within.

Zouken continued rushing down the cavernous tunnels beneath Fuyuki City. The body he was currently wielding had been carrying him within until the crest worm hive had gone insane. He had been forced to take over the body with his soul worm to regain control over the few crest worms that remained cognizant.

The body's name and gender were meaningless as the old magus overwrote them with his soul. He'd only be able to enjoy his full youth and power for three hours at most before he withered back to his old body. The divinely tainted prana was seeing to making him burn through his peak time much faster than normal.

'Damned prana is still attempting to exorcise me,' Zouken cursed as he rushed through a curtain of water that was freely pouring down a crack in the ceiling. His magic circuits burned as long as he stayed here, but he was almost at his destination. 'Bah. I'll never die until I gain the Grail!'

Three hours were still plenty of time.

Zouken continued to move down towards Fuyuki Central Park with shadows clinging onto his body like robes. Dark clouds of insects rose and swayed around his figure as his mind desperately crawled through the broken minds of hundreds of puppets. Only one command was given.

'**GATHER.**'

* * *

_Wise Up...?_

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̫̩ͩ͑̿Ẻrro̸̦͈̥̮̾̎ͪͭ͗͐̌̚͜r̲̭̝͚̂ͥ̏̃ͤ͜.̫̞̠ͤ̈́ͣ

Erro̗̥ͤ͂̐̒͗̒̓ͨ̚͜͞r̴̻̟͚͕̯̊ͭ̈ͤͮ͢ͅ.̸̓͒ͩ͏͇̣̪̻̺̜̭͚̜

Aţ̰͓̦̞̥̝̺̖͎͛ͧ̏̅ͯ̓ͬ͘͡t̲̰̪ͧ̐̋̃͊̇̚emtempting Reboot.

̾ͣ͛̐ͧ̅͏͎̱̬.̢̦͉̤͑ͫͭ..

...

The silence from the Grail is deafening.


	17. Chapter 17

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 17: Heroism II

"You can only save one. That's the decision you made coming into the final battle, so stick with it no matter what." - Taiga, World 2, V̵̲̘́ͯͭ́͝a̶̡̯͔̥̠̖̥̝͙̟ͧͣͥ͒̈́̒͞r̡̳̠̪̊̉̿ͬͦͮͥ͌͡i̻͛̌̚an̯̲̖̹̞ͧ̃ͯ͡t̵̢̺͖͖̤̬̫̼̫̾̑̊͌́̄ ̳̱̦̻̗̫̌̿̄͊ͩͭ̅̈́&ͪͪͯ͒ͭ̽͌ͯ́҉̺̱^̶̢̮̝͖̪ͣ͊ͮͬ̾ͅ%̣̻̑̆͋͗̓͌͒̾͝$̢̡̦̠̳̭ͥ̇ͣͪ͑̆̑͛#̸̨̡̱̗̱̺͈̥̑̍̽̃̑͂̍͋4̴̟̳̍̾͆̋̚͟0̻̹̝̈́̇̔͒ͬ̄͛ .

"Drown in your ideals and die!" - Archer, World 6, V͈̲̟͍̻̯̳͙̏̀a̖̾̈ͅr̨̻̦͔͖̥ͦi̷̖̟̣͊͑an̦͕̄̀͗̏͆t̶̡̟̟̫͖̥̠̜̳͂̆ͤ ͓̦̿̈$̸̡̤̙̟̇͋͜%̹͍̄̄ͣ͗͌̏̽ͤ^̶̝̫̬̰̩̤̃͆͑̃̍ͯ̍̊&̸̟̬̮ͦ̎͐ͫ͑͗͗̚!̬͍̥̩̜̩͉̒̈́͒̃͘͢

"Never look ḇ͍͇̯̠̜̌̋̃ͮ̆ͭ̚͢ã̪̭͉ċ͕͍͈̪̠͕ͨ͟k͍̳̩̞̭͕͋̕.̢͚̘̜̊ͥ̄ ̩͙̝̰̔͂̈̐͗̋Ȏ̴͕̥̖͍͓̚ͅͅn̢͛ͬͯe̵ ̤͍͉̼͙̝ď̢̤̦̙̗̞o̧͍̊̇̈́ͣe̫͓̩͓̭̗͉ͩ͋ͦ̚̚͡s̗̫͔ͥ̓͋̓͆̂̓n̼̹̍̓̑'̵ẗ̳̔͑ͧ͑ ̨̥̹̜̦̓ͥ̂ͦͦ͛ͤͅh̽̉ͩa҉̙̳̹͈̠̗v̆̈́ͩ̾̎͡e̱̝̮̙ ̖̺͈͕̆̓̾͒̑͘t͖ͪ͗̽ͫ͢o͓̮͕͈ͬ ̛̯̮͉͉̠̅̂d̡̬͚̤̜̯̦i͈͇͍̱͝e̬̦̙͎̺͂ͧ ͇̮̱̳͎̞̄̅f̲̥̹͚ͫ̒͊͜ö́̎̇̽́̅͌r̹̞̻̪̣̜̩ ͏̺̪̥̠͇t͓̹̓̓ͨͫw̧͇̙̫̎ͣ̐ͧo͔̟͔̥͙.̀ͥͭ ͎̱̱͑̐ͧͥ͊ͥ͐͝Ŏ͓͍̱̣ͣͬn̫͖͗͌͡e̱̹͚̞̊͗̾͒̐͌ͧ ͩ̑̑ͦ̊̚҉̖͙̗͓̬̞t̠̰̥̮̼̺̺̉̌̎͂͛h̻̫̜͚̻ͯ̆̚ö̰̻̙̭́ͪ̋u̸̻͇̽̔̆ͮš̗͖̙̘̒ͭ̓͝a̹͉̞͔̔͐̓̓͒ͦnd don't have to die for one million. T̛͞͞͠o̶͜͠ǫ̴ ҉̢c̸̨̛r̵̨̀͘͏u͝è̛͟l͏̵͝.́͟͜͜͜ ͜͡҉͞ T̴̸́o̷͜͞o̴̡̢͠ ̧̀h̢̨̧̧ę̵͘͟a̵̶̴v̵̴́y͜.̵̕͟ Just keep moving forward. So long as you have the Will and the Heart to keep looking...someday we will all be happy." - Unknown

* * *

The Grand Holy Grail had manifested deep within the earth beneath the Ryuudou Temple for the Fifth Holy Grail War. It had natural defenses against all spiritual predators with the protective boundary fields arranged in the forests surrounding the temple. The only way in or out for anything of a spiritual nature was to cross beneath the torii – the shrine gates – at the very top of a long staircase.

Originally, this made it a perfect base for Medea when she discovered the Grand Holy Grail was beneath the temple. But now that she was away from the temple, it also made it the perfectly defensible for others who wished to take it over.

Warning! Warning! Core System Offline.

…

**Switching to backup.**

Dark sludge began to bubble from the lake behind the temple.

* * *

The stones above their group's head shifted about in a far too worrying fashion for Shirou's liking. "Are we going to be crushed before we even get out of here, Master?" The man complained as he shifted his hold on Sakura. She had been slipping off his back with that last aftershock.

"Don't be so negative, Archer! My family is the best if it has to do with stones or gems," Rin snorted in response.

"We have to hurry. I can feel the souls of the fallen in these tunnels mixing with the mana flow in the ley lines," Medusa spoke up. A pained expression was on her face as she looked over at the other two. "Something like this can only be done if a Divine Spirit is being prepared to be summoned."

"Yes. Something went wrong with the summons. I'm not sure how, but the mana flow is damaged somewhere in this ley line. Because of that Zouken got away," Shirou sighed. Both women looked at him, and picked up their pace again.

"Tell us what's going on. I don't like the damage that this must have caused to my lands." Rin frowned.

"Zouken is trying to summon a Divine Spirit called Angra Mainyu. He's a devil from the Zoroastrianism faith. Basically he is..."

"All of Mankind's Evils." Medusa broke Shirou's explanation, her skin paling. She turned frantic eyes on the man. "Is...is that what has been in the Holy Grail all along?"

"So, you noticed it..." Shirou replied with a soft sigh. "Yes. This Holy Grail has been tainted for a while now. I've known about it since...my version of Fuyuki got annihilated."

Rin paused, her eyebrows drawing upwards. She clenched a fist, and slammed a powerful strike into Shirou's torso.

Though with no magic behind it, all it did was ruffle his outfit. Still it cause him to look down in shame.

"You asshole! Why didn't you just tell me, huh?" Rin roared. Both of them paused for a moment. Medusa stopped a few steps ahead of them, and turned to gaze at the two with worry in her light purple eyes.

"I couldn't..." Shirou began, but was cut off by Rin.

"You couldn't trust me, right?" Rin raised a hand to her mouth with deprecating humor. "'Let's pull the wool over that stupid tsundere's eyes, oh ho ho. She can't ever get anything right because of how crappy her luck always is. Of course she shouldn't know about the people around her or the danger to her land, because she's just a single faceted person, amirite?'"

Shirou and Medusa winced as an angry choked sound came out of Rin. She whipped her head around to glance away from the two.

"You didn't even trust Sakura." Rin's words stabbed Shirou in the gut and caused the hero to take a step back.

"Rin, that's not fair at all. He was doing everything he did to protect you and Sakura, right?" Medusa offered a hopeful smile at the man at her side.

"...Medusa," Shirou murmured. His heart twisted at seeing the young girl before him. One he had elevated just because. "...you're my fallback."

"What?" Medusa's smile dimmed slightly.

"You said it yourself. Angra Mainyu is your direct opposite. If we're all to fail at stopping the summon...I was going to kill you. You two would...cancel each other out." Shirou winced at seeing the colorful display of emotions across the young woman's face. From shocked widening of the eyes, to disbelieving shake of the head, to a frighteningly stoic expression.

"'Faith of the transient people gather before us. We will guide your weary souls to a paradise on Earth,'" Medusa softly muttered, and gripped her white dress with trembling fingers. "A Goddess is a tool for the masses, right?"

"...asshole," Rin accused, and moved to Medusa's side.

Shirou remained quiet for the rest of the uncomfortable trip.

* * *

The red haired teenager sighed as he finished pushing away the last corpse through the various holes in the Emiya estate's walls, and into a haphazard pile in the center of the street. At his sides, Kuzuki and Bazette were wiping off their hands, and finished piling their own loads into the pile of dead flesh.

Kiritsugu was overlooking the ruined city. His gaze looked disturbingly empty.

"Is this alright?" Shirou wondered.

"Yes. It's best we destroy these bodies in case anyone tries to reactivate them. Plus we need to keep magecraft a secret," Bazette replied. She offered Shirou an understanding smile from where she was standing next to Kuzuki. "You can go back in with the others."

The redhead looked at the woman, and then at the stoic faced Kuzuki. Both of them looked perfectly content to torch the bodies without him around.

'Jeez, is this what magic means?' Shirou wondered. 'You're eventually okay with doing stuff like this?'

"No, I'll be fine. I'm going to check on Emiya-san, though." Shirou replied.

"Heh! Looks like you're starting to get used to this kind of stuff." Bazette gave him a tiny grin. Kuzuki merely gave Shirou a nod as he walked past the teacher, and toward Kiritsugu. Both of the martial artists glanced at each other for a moment, before turning back.

Bazette's fingers twitched. She drew the Ansuz rune, and set the bodies on fire.

Kiritsugu glanced up at Shirou as the teenager approached him.

"Here you go, Emiya-san. Sorry I kept a hold on this." The redhead pulled out the empty Thompson Contender from where he had stuffed it into his pocket.

"That's fine. That last shot of yours pretty much halted the threat." The older man took the gun from the teenager, just as two large plumes of smoke rose. He thumbed back at the twitching bodies. "For now, at least."

Shirou grimly nodded. He could see Caster and Saber moving large amounts of stone out from where he had been buried in their own ways. Magic and brute strength apparently were being used to excavate the earth. "Where did Ilya and Taiga-neechan go, Emiya-san? And what's going on at the shed?"

"They went with Lancer to go get further aid from my grandfather-in-law. We're going to need people who understand the nature of discretion to support us if these things are attacking the city." Kiritsugu began. His thumb ran along the surface of his weapon. "My grandfather can provide that."

"B-but, aren't we supposed to keep it secret?" Shirou wondered. Kiritsugu laughed it off, and gestured over at the ruined cityscape.

"Raiga has known about the Grail War since the last one. It was lesser scale than this, to be sure, but it was just as bad. The mediator of the War drew on their aid to keep things hushed up when they couldn't do it before." Kiritsugu slipped his gun into his long coat. Moments later he drew out a transparent sandwich bag.

Writhing within it was one of those worms.

"Seems I taught you badly on the aspect of Familiars, Shirou-kun." Kiritsugu glared at the creature within the bag for a moment. "Someone did manage to learn how to duplicate themselves." He dangled the bag at arms length, turning it from side to side.

"So...is that what animated everything?" Shirou remembered the talk on how living humans could turn into magical monsters with one of these.

"Yes." Caster called out from behind them. Both Kiritsugu and Shirou turned to see her squeeze in through the ruined wall along with Saber. The blonde was still in her deep blue dress. She gave Shirou a relieved smile. "We cleared the land up, Emiya-san."

"Good. I'll check and see if any of my Origin Bullets survived." Kiritsugu turned, and nodded at the woman. "You're a Servant of magic, right? Can you trace this Familiar back to the master?" He held up the bag.

"I can try." Caster held her hands out, and Kiritsugu transferred the bag to her with a nod. She had a tiny smile on her face despite the situation. It was intriguing to be able to work along with others for once. "I'll inform everyone what I find out in a bit, then."

With that as her parting words, Caster moved off towards Kuzuki and Bazette's side.

"Alright." Kiritsugu walked past them. He gave Shirou and Saber a parting wave. Saber grunted and nodded, then turned towards Shirou.

"Long time no see, huh?" Shirou wondered.

"Feels like a while, doesn't it?" Saber agreed with a smile. "I'm glad you've become strong, Master."

"Eheheh." Shirou rubbed the back of his head. "Couldn't let you or Ilya down, now could I?"

"Heh." Saber's eyes shone a bit. Then her expression dimmed slightly. "Master...I need to tell you something."

"What is it...?" Shirou started. However, his words were interrupted when a white and black blur landed next to him.

"Shirou Urobuchi." A soft feminine voice called out next to his ear. The redhead started, and pulled away.

Saber rushed in between Shirou and the white haired girl, while Caren grinned. She looked up at Shirou from an uncomfortably close distance.

"...Ortensia-san?" Shirou blinked at Caren Ortensia in surprise. Saber's hand, which was clenched around a formfitting black coat, loosened its tight grip as the Servant briefly glanced over at Shirou curiously. Finally, she released Caren and stepped back.

"Caren." Caren glanced over at Saber, before she pointedly straightened up her coat. She looked over at Shirou, and gave him an angelic smile. "You managed to survive. I'm glad to see that you have inherited the torn earth."

Shirou's eyebrow twitched slightly. "I'm not meek."

Caren brought both hands up in front of her, lightly placed her palms together, and bowed her head slightly. "Forgive me then..."

Shirou began to nod.

"...my Lord." Only to stop with a grimace when Caren concluded.

Shirou put a forced smile on his lips. "So, how can I help you Ortensia-**san**?" Caren's eyes glittered with fey light as she dismissively stepped past Saber and closer to him. The smell of disinfectant wasn't as strong in her scent, and the light of the fire blazing behind Shirou revealed that Caren's black coat abruptly terminated at the hip line. He nearly swallowed his tongue.

"I've come in my official capacity as the mediator of the War." Caren removed her black beret from on top of her wavy white hair. "I need to speak to the alliance that gathered here, and inform you all that the War has been canceled in lieu of the breach of security."

Very official words. Sort of undermined thanks to what she was wearing, though. Caren stood before them only in her coat, a white leotard beneath it, and sheer black stockings with black flats. The mediator blinked at the two of them.

"...what?" Caren wondered, quirking her head.

* * *

"When it isn't earthquakes, it's zombies, and now it's the damn water?" The elderly man's scars and wrinkles deepened on his pale face, and he ran a hand through his shortly cropped grey hair. His voice bounced around the brightly lit sitting room. Artistic paper screens depicting scenery from around Japan outlined the walls. He sat in seiza position in the center of the room on top of a set of pillows.

"Damnit! How long is this going to go on before the police actually start assisting us with their full ability?" Raiga Fujimura raged, and slapped his hand on the ground loudly.

Six of his assistants, men and women in dark business suits, winced and leaned away from the kimono clad man as he shifted in his tiger striped overcoat. The man he was yelling at in particular shook his head, causing his light and slightly curly hair to sway.

"I'm sorry, Fujimura-sama, but everyone we've sent downtown or to the police headquarters stopped contacting us." The darkly tanned twenty year old adjusted his sunglasses.

"Fine. We'll just have to deal with this since the government is useless to us." Raiga began. The door directly in front of him banged open, and his granddaughter and great granddaughter both came rushing into the room, followed by a foreigner with blue hair and a rather eyebrow raising outfit.

Raiga and his assistants tensed when they saw the sharp red spear in the newcomer's hands. They relaxed at seeing Ilya and Taiga wait for the man to pull up next to them, along with about six armed men following in their wake.

"Grandpa! Call off the guards. Lancer here was merely protecting us until we got here," Taiga complained. Raiga glanced up and saw that there was an intense look in his granddaughter's eyes.

"Go." Raiga waved, and the armed guards backed slightly away and returned to the hallway.

"Grandpa! I'm glad to see you made it through the biohazard!" Ilya cried as she rushed up to wrap her arms around his frame. Raiga mentally breathed a sigh of relief, placing a hand on her shoulder. His body was able to finally relax.

"Where's Kiritsugu, Taiga-chan?"

"He's trying to stop the source of this disaster," Taiga began, lowering herself to kneel before him. He winced when she inclined her head towards him. "Honored grandfather, I know we've had differences in the past, but I beg you to help my husband."

Ilya let go of Raiga and silently moved to sit besides him as he glanced over at Taiga. His eyes briefly went up to Lancer, before glancing back down at Taiga. His granddaughter was currently bowing low, keeping her forehead a inch or two away from touching the ground, shocking the older man. Several of the assistants in the room winced or looked away uncomfortably.

Raiga's face softened a little, and he looked over at his great granddaughter by marriage. Ilya looked at him with hopeful red eyes.

"You know as well as I do that we cannot officially move to support you now, Taiga-chan." Raiga gently tried to soften the blow. His granddaughter's frame twitched ever so slightly, and the man fought off a scowl that tried to appear on his lips.

'Damn Tohno. If it weren't for them...' Raiga cursed.

"I...I'm sorry for bothering you, honored grandfather," Taiga mumbled towards the ground.

Lancer frowned at the display before him.

Raiga looked away. "...I'm sorry but the group needs to go ahead with our rescue operations. We have many injured people we rescued from those abominations."

"I understand..." Taiga shakily got to her feet. She gave both Ilya and Lancer warning glares while wiping away the moisture creeping out of the side of her eyes. "Let's go, Ilya-chan! Lancer-kun!" She clapped her hands loudly, then turned and started walking away.

"Grandpa..." Ilya glanced over at her mother's retreating back, and then at Raiga with a lost expression on her face. "Be safe, okay?" A look of clarity entered her red eyes as she leaned forwards and kissed Raiga on the cheek. She hopped up and rushed after Taiga.

The temperature in the room went up a few degrees as Lancer glanced at Raiga and his assistants. Several of the men tensed as they felt killing intent seep out of those crimson eyes.

"...be glad I don't wish to make her cry," Lancer stated, then turned and followed after them. Several of the armed guards at the door pressed away from the blue haired foreigner as he followed the women into the hallways.

"Masa-kun." Raiga's eyes flicked to his left. The curly haired man there drew at attention. "How many people do we have in the mansion doing security right now?"

"We have thirty on call, Fujimura-sama," Masa replied. Several of the assistants in the sitting room murmured amongst themselves.

"Good...fire half of them," Raiga bluntly announced. "They all infuriated me for siding with my wayward granddaughter."

A few of the more cunning assistants began to smile.

"Of course, sir. I'll get on that right away." Masa remained stoic.

"Also, how long have you been with me, Masa-kun?" Raiga gazed out into the open air courtyard in front of his sitting room. Bamboo shoots grew tall and proud in the soft soil. He remembered when Taiga had planted those in as a girl.

"Fifteen years, Fujimura-sama." Masa shifted in place.

Taiga's hands looked so scrubbed up and raw, but his little girl's face was happy and proud, even as she was being chastised by a much younger Masa.

"Well, you're not getting anymore younger, now are you?" Raiga snorted. "Get the hell out of my property. I'm not going to risk having to start paying your retirement benefits."

"Oh, what would our severance be, Fujimura-sama?" Masa's sunglasses glinted.

"Why, for all of your years of service? Any weapons in the armory. I believe my granddaughter is taking temporary workers right now." Raiga snapped his fingers.

One of his suited assistants drew close with a tray containing a bottle of sake and a cup. Raiga glanced at the cup, and then up at his assistant a bit disbelieving. The elderly man reached over and grabbed the bottle itself, and drank deeply from it.

"Good hunting," Raiga breathed out as he wiped his lips with his kimono's sleeve.

"...of course, Fujimura-sama." Masa grinned, and he rushed out after Taiga.

'They grow up so fast.' Raiga took another chug of sake straight from the bottle.

* * *

Sella narrowed her eyes a little, looking at the unshaven man on top of the bed. He moaned and shifted to the side.

'Blood is getting on my clean linen.' The expressionless woman glanced over at Ilyasviel, who was frantically pointing at him. Her compatriot, Leysritt, was gently gripping onto the dark skinned girl's shoulders.

"Fix him, Sella!" Ilyasviel's voice wobbled. Sella's enhanced senses detected Herakles' spiritual form shifting uncomfortably. Well of course the useless man was all thumbs at the moment. He was useless if it had to do with doing something more complicated than beating on something until it broke. "He helped save me. But now he's broken, and I don't like seeing that!"

The man moaned miserably on top of her clean bed. Why did they bring him into her room again? Now it'd have to get disinfected when this was all done. He was going to get his germs all over the place. Then she'd clean it up, and Leysritt was going to come trampling in like the bubble head she was, and she'd be at square one...

"Mistress...alchemy really shouldn't be used like this," Sella began. She slipped into a lecturing tone as she continued. "Homunculi like us have a consistent amount of material within us at all times due to the surgical alterations in our systems. We can easily use preset formula to heal ourselves or ..." She sighed when both Leysritt and Ilyasviel's eyes went distant on her.

"...we can use the regular first aid kits that Lord Einzbern sent in case of emergencies. I don't want to risk using the spells I know to heal him without first examining him," Sella flatly replied. Both of the other homunculi cheered and threw their arms up. She stared at Leysritt. "Don't cheer yet. You're getting them for me."

"...gah," Leysritt croaked.

"You're designed to be the mule. Get to sweating for Ilyasviel's sake." Sella slapped her hands together.

"S-so mean..." Leysritt flinched back from her words. She turned and rushed out of Sella's room in a burst of speed.

Sella pressed a hand to the side of the man's neck. Finding a weak pulse there, she moved both of her hands to his chest and began to focus on deadening his limbs so he wouldn't thrash about and hurt himself further.

"Mistress Ilyasviel, what happened to him?" Sella calmly questioned, feeling her prana begin to pour into the man's body.

"Uhm...well..." Ilyasviel hedged. The stoic maid continued to gaze at her unblinkingly. The silver haired girl started to sweat as she looked up at her maid. Her hands rubbed up against each other. "I kind of had a run in with the Dead...? Tee hee?"

Herakles silently shook his head. Perhaps in growing horror. 'You don't actually have to say the words out loud, Master.'

"'Tee hee'." Sella coolly sounded the syllables that Ilyasviel had spoken. The maid slowly glanced around the room once she finished her job of paralyzing the bloody man's limbs. Her empty red gaze snapped right at the spot that Herakles was standing. "'Tee hee', Herakles."

"Uhm..." Herakles intelligently replied.

"There were a lot of them!" Ilyasviel attempted to defend the bronze giant as she moved in between Sella and the hero.

"Oh, was there...? Had to rely on a human to protect you, hm...?" Sella kept asking as she continued gazing straight through Herakles.

"Yes?" Ilyasviel replied. The silver haired girl chewed on her lower lip. She had always been taught to never lie by Leysritt. "That sounds exactly the same as the situation that I have just described. Yet I get the feeling that it is fifty times worse."

"I see." Sella's fingers twitched. She reached over and lightly patted Ilyasviel on the head. "Go tell Leysritt to fetch two first aid kits."

"But the mister is the only one that got hurt." Ilyasviel blinked up at Sella. Her hair was standing up in thin silver strands as a bit of static was generated from where the maid's sparking hand had rubbed her hair. A strand draped in front of the younger looking girl's left eye.

"Hah. Hah. How silly of me." Sella sounded the words out flatly. "Go tell her to bring the burn cream, then. I seem to be scalding off the top layer of my hands with an overflow of prana. How neglectful of a maid I am."

"Okay!" Ilyasviel giggled. Oh that Sella, always so forgetful.

"Oh...and tell Herakles to stay here. Unphased. I need his help undressing this other man."

Herakles shook his head down at Ilyasviel. His silent prayer went unanswered.

"Herakles! Help tend to this nice mister! I'm going to go get the burn cream for Sella!" Ilyasviel chirped, the she turned and rushed out of the room. A few moments of silence passed between maid and hero, before Herakles reluctantly phased into existence.

"I'll have you know that it's disrespectful to attack your elders." Herakles began. He hoped that would work against the two year old terror in front of him.

He found the tactic didn't quite work out in his favor after all.

* * *

"The Holy Grail War is suspended until we ensure that things are covered up." Caren's voice rang over the assembled group. Bazette and Lancer were both lingering near the exit of the living room heading to the backyard. Kuzuki and Caster were both sitting at the low table near the center of the room. The woman was currently gazing over the worm they had removed from the zombie. "It's unneeded with this group, but I will ensure that anyone that tries any underhanded trick is turned on by the rest of the Church.

Kiritsugu and Taiga were both standing a ways outside in the yard with the rest of the yakuza. Kiritsugu using mild hypnosis on the men and women so they couldn't quite connect the dots on what Caren was saying.

"There's still other Servants out there." Saber pointed out pragmatically. "Have you already spoken with them and their Masters? I don't wish to have to worry about watching our backs while we take care of this."

"The Tohsaka home was annihilated when the earthquake struck. I don't think they will be a problem." Caren calmly was sitting at the head of the table along with the the teacher and witch. Her words caused both Ilya and Shirou to sputter, and they jolted from where they had been leaning on one of the walls of the living room next to the blonde. "Good tea."

Caren lifted a ceramic cup to her lips. With a leisurely sip, she took a deep drink of a freshly brew pot.

"Wait! Go back to what you just said!" Shirou blurted as he swung his arm in front of him. Ilya frantically nodded.

"Thank you oh so much for this wondrous manna from the heavens?" Caren wondered innocently. Ilya shot across the room and knelt down by Caren's side. She reached and grabbed at the young nun's shoulders.

"No! What's this about the Tohsaka?" Ilya shook Caren a bit.

"Ooh. Yes. I went there first. She's the owner of this land." Caren calmly set her cup down to keep it from splashing around more. She looked at Ilya and then at Shirou. "Problem?"

"Ngh. Don't be so relaxed about this, you fake nun! Show some compassion for your fellow man!" Ilya complained as she let go of Caren. The white haired nun quirked her head slightly.

"Oh, they should be fine. I didn't find Tohsaka-san's crushed corpse anywhere. In no way at all did I get a chance to see her guts and innards strewn about the ground in a macabre mockery of a tube of toothpaste, as if the house's roof had flattened her to a degree even thinner than her bust already was." Caren glanced upwards at the heavens as she concluded her speech.

Caster snorted with a smirk.

"T-that's good, then?" Shirou uncertainly asked.

Ilya ducked her head a bit in shame at the redhead's observation. "We've lost sight of our original goal here, I think."

"Ah! Yes! We have to go find her! She's one of the school's ido-er...not safe at all in this situation if even Servants are having trouble with the zombies." Shirou terminated his words too late. Ilya's eyebrow twitched.

"Hm. Oh, she'll live. My father says she's very wily," Caren replied.

"Like a fox?" Kuzuki finally chimed into the conversation with a bit of curiosity. Rin Tohsaka was always one of the brighter students in the year.

"Like...a weasel?" The white haired girl wondered. She brought up a finger to lightly scratch at her lips.

"While trashing an innocent girl's name is so very fascinating," Bazette finally chimed in from the sidelines. "I think we should go ahead and contact the other Master we know has survived up until now."

"Yes. I'm going to head off to the Einzbern Castle now that I've let you all know this." Caren clapped her hands together. She blinked as Ilya, Saber, and Kiritsugu all tensed noticeably. She let her hands droop to her sides. "Is...there something wrong?"

Ilya and Saber both shared a look. Kiritsugu let his arms drop from where he had them crossed in front of his chest and fully paid attention to the living room.

"Did you tell Master?" Saber pressed Ilya. The blonde took a few steps closer to Ilya to emphasize the point.

"I hadn't had time until...we got interrupted." Ilya gave the confused nun a slightly baleful look. She looked over at Shirou as she nervously twitched in place. "Shirou, your father..."

"What?" Shirou blinked and looked around as the room went silent.

"Master, we went to see your father after we were attacked." Saber shook her head. She took a deep breath, and powered through. "We lost him when a crowd of the undead attacked us at your home."

"Like...you guys got separated, right?" Shirou tensed, and the others turned to look at him with various expression across their faces.

"The Master of Einzbern and her Servant were swarmed by the undead. He moved in to save them," Saber calmly replied. Yet her left hand was tightly squeezed into a fist. "We were driven away by the undead. We couldn't go back."

Shirou went pale as he staggered back. He was quickly interrupted by Ilya before his mind was able to process that last bit of information.

"I saw her Servant, Herakles, carry both Uncle Ren and...Ilyasviel off while we fled," Ilya slowly offered. Caster went rigid in shock at the name of the Servant. Others in the room went still as they recognized the name, but not nearly to the degree that the witch had.

"Damn. She's got a legendary hero on her side, and the power of that clan's alchemy." Bazette shook her head in wonder. Still, nothing compared to her own Servant.

"Ilyasviel Einzbern is your name too, isn't it?" Lancer wondered. Kiritsugu and Taiga shifted in place uneasily. Ilya merely grimaced and looked down, nodding. "Do you have some connection with them we can use? Probably best we take care of the bigger thing first."

"I..." Ilya uneasily began.

'Homunculus.' The word popped into Shirou's mind.

Saber glanced over at Shirou wordlessly. The redhead licked his lips indecisively.

"Let's go." Kiritsugu immediately volunteered. The others looked over at the man as he stepped forwards. "Ortensia-san, I'll go with you to the Einzbern Castle."

"Hmm...? Well, I'm good to go right away." Caren decided to humor the older man as she looked over at Ilya. She lightly reached over, and patted the silver haired girl on the head. Ilya looked up in surprise, her eyes shining as the white haired nun concluded. "Everyone is loved equally by the Lord."

Caster's eyes were drawn over to Kuzuki when he shifted slightly in his position.

"I'm going with you two," Shirou suddenly blurted. Caren and Kiritsugu turned to look at the teenager as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. He spared a look over at Ilya. The silver haired girl offered him a sad smile, and nodded. "My father is still there. I need to make sure he's alright."

Saber shook her head. "Then I'm with you three as well." She looked at the room at large. "Yet I wonder if everyone will be alright if we go."

Lancer snorted, and ran a hand through his hair. Caster frowned a bit, and tapped her hands on the table.

"Now, now, Saber-chan. You have to rely on your allies." Taiga's voice musically chimed as she peeked into the room. "You can't save the world all by yourself."

Saber tensed, and briefly closed her eyes. Thoughts of her long lost kingdom flashed through her mind. "I suppose I can't."

Caren rose to her feet, and looked at the other three that had agreed to accompany her. "We should go right away, then."

Caster cleared her throat. She gestured at the worm that she was trying to use her magic on. "If I locate the source of the undead, what should I do to contact you all?"

"Shirou-kun, do you have your cellphone with you?" Taiga wondered.

"The towers are probably down," Ilya countered. She flipped her banged up and highly scratched cellphone open, and confirmed the lack of signal.

"Then we'll just do it the traditional way," Kiritsugu replied. "Fire off a flare with your magic wherever you arrive. We'll get the general area that way. The chaos should let us home in quicker too."

Bazette eagerly grinned. "I'm going to be so happy when I get a chance to get the freak that did this." She cracked her knuckles.

"Good luck." Kuzuki merely offered the four as they headed out of the building.

* * *

Arihiko Inui wasn't having a fun go of this vacation one bit. His face twitched as briefly raised his hands to rub at his ears. The aching sensation deep within his head hadn't abated since...

He glanced at his watch. The flickering flames nearby illuminated it as being 9 pm.

'About three hours since I lost Miyu...' Arihiko cursed. He looked around at the shattered buildings of Shinto. The shouts and screaming seemed to have stopped about a half hour ago. But the loss of the fucking zombies didn't stop the purely human element of this disaster.

Arihiko clenched onto a slightly rusted iron pipe as he walked past a group of people rushing out of a dark convenience store. He shifted his jacket around him so it warmed him a bit better, and turned down a street.

He paused in surprise.

The street up ahead was completely abandoned. Only flickering street lights illuminated several bodies that were draped around the ground in large groups. A vague and hazy outline, sort of like a heat wave, lingered in the air where several bodies could be seen faintly twitching.

'Oh hell no am I going that way.' Arihiko turned about face, and started walking down the opposite street. A twinge of pain made him wince and reach up to rub his left temple. He could feel the vein beneath his finger throb fitfully.

Faint crying caused his ears to perk up.

'A girl?' Arihiko glanced around the empty street. The crackling of wood popping under flames and distant sirens were the only other noises around. He took a deep breath, promptly started coughing and hacking from the scent of thick smoke, and started walking forwards.

The sounds of crying stalled for a moment as his cough echoed down the street. Then it started up again when silence resumed after Arihiko got control over his coughing fit.

"Smooth move," The teenager softly muttered to himself. Arihiko winced. The pressure on the side of his head increased in time to a snowy, crumbling noise in his ears. The sound of crying drew closer as he approached the alley between two buildings.

"Hello?" Arihiko called out into the darkness. The crying paused once again. He tried to peer into the darkness, but he could only see a vague shape deeper in the alley. "Do you need any help?" Arihiko took a few steps deeper into the alley.

The figure of the crying girl was hunched over in a corner of the alley. He could vaguely make out her white sweater now that he had actually entered the alley properly.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." Although his headache felt like it was going to do Arihiko in at this rate.

A new pulse in his ear when the girl stopped crying. She slowly lifted her head and glanced back at him. He could feel the noise build in his ears, even as her gaze lifted higher and higher. Up the knee, past the hip, over the chest, lingering at the neck, and finally at eye level.

'Why are her eyes red?' Arihiko stupidly thought.

His hearing burst painfully into a constant stream of static. The small girl leapt at him, long claws outstretched with a hiss.

It was only Arihiko's natural reaction to stress and the pain from his ears that saved him. His head jerked back when the static in his ears went up several notches with her presence. The smell of death and decay hung thickly as she snapped at him.

His thick jacket got a long tear along the front before he could blink. Arihiko swung out in a blind panic with the iron pipe, and grasped a pale, clammy, and cold arm with the other. A frightening amount of force went to bear against that arm as the woman tried to rip his throat out.

The woman let out a screech as the two struggled in a flurry of motion. Half shoves and every dirty trick in Arihiko's book was brought to bear, even as his jacket got more and more slashed up. Thick tufts of cotton fluttered around, and he grabbed the side of the woman's head and smashed it up against the wall of the alley.

Her hands spasmed open. Arihiko was free.

He frantically rushed out of the alley. The woman's screams followed him down the streets of Fuyuki's more industrialized sectors. He passed by both burnt down and burning businesses in a desperate hurry, then turned down a street blindly.

Arihiko had to get away. Find his sister and get the hell away.

…

It was now 9:15 pm.

Arihiko passed by a fallen corpse who was moaning pitifully, weakly trying to get back to its feet. A bloody looking cork remover was on the ground next to him. In the far distance, Arihiko could make out a woman shuffling away towards the north west.

Well, less corpses for him to dodge.

The teenager made his way into a cozier business district. The buildings here had fewer high rises, and were more tightly packed together. Several of the entrances of the business had been broken into and glass shattered all around down. The teenager tensed a bit at the more cramped surroundings, and reached into his backpack to draw out his pipe again.

A few of the buildings had been utterly razed from all appearances. One of which he passed by. Arihiko spared a glance at the sign before dismissing it. Looked german.

"Miyu!" Arihiko called out once more.

"H-hello?" A returning call answered from one of the buildings. Arihiko perked up. That didn't sound like a crying zombie girl to him.

The teenager rushed up towards the electronics store. Like the others, its front entrance had been broken into at one point. The place looked like one of those pawn shops, though. Lots of towering devices and items in boxes formed a maze.

"Hey! You're not a monster, are you?" Arihiko suspiciously called out into the gloom of the interior of the store.

"N-no?" The girl answered. A few moments passed before a slim brunette with shoulder length hair hair and large brown eyes gazed at him. She was dressed in a slightly burnt smock and torn white shirt and black pants.

"Hey, have you seen a little girl? She just turned nine last month. Short, black hair. My sister." Arihiko held his free hand up at about Miyu's height. The girl slowly shook her head in denial. "Damn. I'm going to cross the bridge, then."

"W-wait. Can you help us?" The girl took a step closer to him. "My boss and I were attacked by those m-monsters back at our bar. She's been badly injured and..." She began to hiccup with repressed sobs.

The thought about running off and leaving the girl here briefly crossed Arihiko's mind. Now that he gave her another look over, he could make out heavy amounts of dried blood on her hands, and a certain panicked light in her eyes.

And he knew that Miyu would hate him forever if he abandoned someone in need.

"...okay. My name is Arihiko Inui."

"Yukika Saegusa." Yukika gave him a relieved smile.

* * *

It had been a good hour now that all four had been running. The shattered bits of civilization had given way to the ancient forests of the Einzbern. Kiritsugu immediately proved useful when he had shattered a tracking barrier.

All of them had slipped into the woods afterward.

"Shirou, what exactly did you do to those monsters?" Saber asked in wonder. The three humans were pressing the limits of their reinforcement as they rushed through the woods of the Einzbern Forest. Occasionally they'd see a weakly twitching figure on the dark paths let out a moan and try to reach for them. Other bodies were completely still.

"Well...I just used Emiya-san's bullet." Shirou glanced over at Kiritsugu. The older man gave him a nod to continue. "It has the ability to sever and bind. I tweaked the severing portion so instead I'd overload the minds of everything shot with it."

Caren's golden eyes sparkled with interest. "You do know that you might have discovered a brand new way of fighting the Dead, right?"

Shirou shrugged, and bounced off a exposed root. "I just used a D.D.O.S. Attack. So much nonsense coming in at once and built up on top of all those minds in the link were too much for Shinji. Nothing groundbreaking for me. Besides, it wouldn't be possible without Emiya-san's special bullet. Now *that* was awesome."

Kiritsugu faintly smiled.

Saber scoffed a bit. Still her own eyes shone with a trace of pride. 'He's come so far in so little time.' At least the incidents so far had honed her master. 'We'll get far when the war resumes,' She thought hopefully.

"Hm...would you two be interested in working with the Church when this is over?" Caren asked the two men hopefully, all four of them leaping a tangled mess of trees to land in a clearing. It almost felt like the forest itself had been trying to keep them at bay.

"We can talk about it later," Kiritsugu replied. The man held a hand up as he closed his eyes. "For now I need a bit of time to shatter this next barrier. We should almost be at the castle based on the set up of protections."

"Yeah. We need to see how my dad is doing. Then stop whatever the hell is happening to the city." Shirou shrugged. He gave Caren a faint smile, though. "I'll consider it. The magic world is crazy land enough. Maybe you guys are slightly better about it."

"Ah, I can't wait to see your reaction to Dead Apostles," Saber blurted out before she could hold her words back. She slapped one of her armored gauntlets over her mouth in shock.

Caren and Shirou blinked at her in surprise.

"...what?" Shirou had a faint grin on his face as he looked at Saber. "Did you...actually come somewhat close to teasing me?"

"N-no." Saber shook her head.

Caren's golden eyes danced with delight. "Oh, I think you were." The white haired nun enthused. "There's nothing wrong with a little bit of levity! Tell me, how much do you know about the Moonlit World, Urobuchi-kun?"

"Not that much, actually." Shirou looked a bit amused over how flushed Saber had become. "I only became a Wizard about three days ago."

"Aah..._Schadenfreude_." Caren smirked at Saber. "You're a cruel woman. The Lord may one day strike you down."

"Got it." Kiritsugu called out. The strange distortions in the mana around them dissipated. Saber gratefully began to move past the two equally smirking teenagers and past Kiritsugu. He had a faint smirk on his face. "Lead the way. I'll keep them from firing more potshots at you...but you owe me now."

Saber groaned and bravely ran away.

* * *

Ilyasviel tiredly sighed. Her tiny hand held onto the older man's own as she sat on a finely carved wooden chair in Sella's room. A small fire roared in the fireplace to keep her warm, and she felt the eyes of her maids and Herakles on her.

"You should go to bed, Mistress," Leysritt chided from where she stood to Ilyasviel's right side. The more physically geared of the three maids - it was her duty to be Ilyasviel's bodyguard and caregiver up until the war began. "I can get you some warm milk and tuck you in."

Sella remained silent, but attentive, at her left side. Unlike Leysritt, her job had only been to teach her magecraft, and had only been spared a fate of being deactivated once her duty was done by sharing caregiver and maid duties with Leysritt.

"I'll keep watch over him personally, Master." Herakles' voice was warm and protective. "It's as much my debt of honor to watch over him than it is yours."

"Do you think he has children?" Ilyasviel wondered as she gently set his hand on his chest. The man's torso was covered with all manner of bandages along with compresses on his face.

"Why do you ask, Mistress?" Sella wondered.

"Grandpa told me that people outside have very little houses. Since they're poor." Ilyasviel glanced over at Sella with a knowing smirk. "That having grand homes is the privilege of the few on the top. Since we're doing our best to keep them safe."

"So a poor man protected you, eh?" Sella gazed sightlessly over at Herakles.

"But...it seemed too big just for one person." Ilyasviel bounced in her chair, excitement entering her voice. "Maybe he's more important than the people around him? Like a king or something! I didn't see anyone else wielding such weapons in town either."

"It is powerful," Herakles admitted. "Although, I can only observe its abilities after I started wielding it."

"Maybe he sent his staff away when this happened." Leysritt mused. She crossed her arms beneath her sizable chest in thought. "Or sent them off to fight. Lord Einzbern sends my sisters off to protect the castle from invaders all the time."

"Oooh. Maybe he has a son or a daughter that can play with me," Ilyasviel eagerly wondered.

"Well, if he has children, I'm sure they're as brave as their father is," Herakles replied with a chuckle.

Sella suddenly looked up. Her dull eyes narrowed. "We have invaders."

"What?" Ilyasviel hopped up to her feet. "Let me see, Se!" She demanded and reached up towards Sella's head.

The maid lowered her head to allow Ilyasviel to touch her forehead. The bedroom vanished from Ilyasviel's sight, and she was flooded with all manner of information from the surrounding world as Sella's senses, refined to the same extreme level as the rest of her sisters, gave her information of the final barrier around the castle.

An almost unnoticeable part of the field was swiftly crumbling. Four figures swept in through the opening before Ilyasviel and Sella's eyes.

Leysritt's slightly amiable expression faded. Her own eyes glittered darkly as she turned. "Keep the Mistress back here, Sella." She reached for a silver and gray staff. It had a sharp pointed end at the tip which had red alchemical markings burnt into it.

Once she grasped it, she tapped the bottom part of the staff, a rounded bottom with swirling curves in the metal, up against the ground. A flash of light lit up the dim bedchamber, and a massive blade formed out one side of the weapon.

The halberd lengthened so it was longer than Leysritt was tall as she walked around the hole in the ground where she had tapped the weapon, and exited the room.

"Be careful, Leysritt." Sella calmly called out towards her partner. The woman glanced back at her and firmly nodded as left the room.

"Herakles! Go with Li!" Ilyasviel called out. She twisted in place to glance up at the silent man. "I know if you go she won't have any trouble at all."

"It could be a trap, Master," Herakles began. The man uncomfortably shook his head. "I'm not comfortable leaving you alone if they were able to get through every barrier so stealthily."

Sella nodded in agreement. She moved to stand in front of door to symbolically support the transparent hero. "Your life is more important than that of a hundred of mine or Leysritt."

Ilyasviel growled deep in her throat, her eyes glaring at Herakles, and then at Sella. "You can't make that kind of a decision, though! If you or Leysritt went away, then I'll be all alone . It would be just like it used to be!"

Sella hesitated. "Leysritt and I want to look out for your well being. Nothing else matters..." She tried to explain things to the increasingly infuriated Ilyasviel.

"I'll just make this a command to both of you, then!" Ilyasviel went red in the cheeks. "As the Master of Einzbern, I order you two to follow me and support Leysritt!"

Sella drooped in place slightly. Herakles gave her an equally tired look.

"Let's go then, Mistress," Sella murmured.

* * *

Einzbern Castle stretched out before Shirou's eyes. The building looked like it was ripped from the pages of a fairy tale. A faint smile crossed his lips despite himself. The western building tickled the little bit of fancy that he had kept in his heart since childhood.

Caren gazed around the large yard. For a few moments she let her own guard down as well. She took in the magnificent gardens that sprang out from the sides of the path they were walking down. The ever present corruption in Fuyuki that burned her skin faded to nothing when they drew closer to the castle. No Dead had breached this fortress.

Both Saber and Kiritsugu were sharing similar thoughts. Ilyasviel von Einzbern. In a family that specialized in alchemy, the first thought went to homunculi when it came to dealing with problems with inheritance.

Saber grit her teeth to fight off old regrets. The memories of Mordred and his part in her death came to her easily when she thought about alchemy. Especially when she thought about the one thing that alchemy could do.

Bring life.

Kiritsugu kept his own raging thoughts bottled deep. Beneath a thick layer of ice they all went as he calmly gazed around their surroundings. He took in every possible position they could be attacked from and spoke up.

"They won't be using firearms. Arrows are a possibility. Do not allow them to even nick you. If that happens, you will be exposed to some poison. Do not attempt to use magecraft to heal it. They've learned how to work poisons to damage circuits." Kiritsugu explicitly continued with a series of orders. "Shirou-kun, stay behind Saber. Ortensia-san, keep behind me. Follow me."

The four of them moved to follow after Kiritsugu as stealthily as they could manage. The grass beneath their feet crunched in the cold weather. They used the shadows cast by the plants around them to their benefit. Many times they doubled around to keep from being downwind of any spores the vegetation might produce, though.

They eventually came up to a large marble staircase leading to the main door into the castle. The double doors, each as large and wide as three men, both swung wide open the moment they stepped foot onto the stairs.

"...a maid?" Shirou wondered when a woman wearing a dark bodysuit beneath a flowing white dress with an open chest stepped out. He swallowed his disbelief as a halberd that was taller than the maid was lightly brought to bear against them.

The stoic faced maid gazed down at them.

"The Mistress won't be seeing anyone right now." The woman blinked, and her eyes focused on Kiritsugu and Saber. Both of them tensed as they recognized this woman.

'Irisviel introduced me to some of the other homunculi. This is one of the combat models.' Saber held her hands out before her, and summoned Excalibur. Wreathed as it was within Invisible Air, it would serve her well in melee.

"Ah...so the rumors were true, Master Kiritsugu," The maid mused. She swept her halberd in front of her defensively. A soft pink light began to gather from her chest and torso. "I am Leysritt. The protector of Mistress Ilyasviel von Einzbern. I will crush the others and bring you to her."

"Wait!" Caren quickly spoke up. She held her arms up to show nothing was in them. "My name is Caren Ortensia. I'm the mediator of the Holy Grail War. Mistress Einzbern already met me. We need to cease hostilities in favor of a greater threat of exposure!"

"Mistress Ilyasviel's commands are absolute." Leysritt responded, and she took a step forwards. Kiritsugu tensed, then moved and lightly pushed the two back.

Saber moved forwards to meet the maid. "Just like old times, Kiritsugu?" She called as one step became five. Five steps then became an all out dash, and both women charged at each other.

"Of course," Kiritsugu breezily replied. He swung his cloak outward, revealing several grenades.

* * *

The corruption in the air was getting worse for Medusa as they ascended a sloped path. The stars twinkled down at them as they ascended. "I can feel him. We're nearly there." The young girl spoke up. Her white dress was spotless in comparison to the others' dirty clothing.

Rin and Sakura were both lingering near each other, conversing quietly. Both of the heroes didn't bother to intrude on their privacy.

"I can smell that bastard's familiars," Shirou replied, running his hands along the sides of the walls. The tightly packed dirt beneath his fingers dissolved into blackened ash as he climbed. "Medusa, you can't fight anymore, right?"

The teenager shook her head. "No. I can't fight anymore. The flaw in my creation was what allowed me to protect my sisters by taking up arms against others." She looked at the trail of black ash that Shirou was leaving behind him. "What are you doing?"

"Without Zelretch, I have to rely on modifying things on my own." The white haired man glanced at her and offered a tentative smile. Medusa marveled how shaken he looked ever since the blow up earlier. "The earth is pretty much the source of everything. I can convert its data and store it for a while."

Medusa's remaining feelings of betrayal were set aside in light of how wounded the man looked. "I...I'm grateful for what you did for me." She decided to speak up. To try and assure him before they arrived at their final destination. "You let me at least briefly grow closer to my sisters." And to quell the raging blood-thirst that had been scratching at the back of her mind.

Shirou looked at Medusa in surprise. For a moment she could almost see the younger version of this man superimposed over his features when his eyes shone with happiness. She faintly smiled at him, feeling his spirits rise.

"Mankind and the Divine should work together. I may not be able to fight anymore, but I will wholeheartedly support you in protecting this city." Medusa firmly nodded. All four of them exited a small outcropping of rocks. A large park stretched out as far as the eye could see.

Shambling bodies could be seen moving about in the gloom. The opening in the stones they had exited shimmered before a barrier rose and held the entrance closed once again.

"So will I." Sakura's voice interrupted their conversation, and the dark haired girl walked closer to them. She offered the white haired man a tentative smile as she gazed up at him. "Vast parts of my famil-...the Matou Crest are gone now. The little I have I'll use to help control sister's attacks for her."

"Sakura..." Shirou awkwardly stepped back as she moved forward. The teenager reached up and brushed some of his white bangs out of his face.

"Thank you for saving me, senpai." Sakura's face flushed a bit. Before Medusa or Shirou could react, she moved forwards and wrapped her arms around him. Her arms tightly squeezed around his frame before she broke away, and snatched Medusa's hand.

"What is i...oh." Medusa noticed Rin lingering near the entrance to the cave and glancing over at Shirou. She allowed herself to get pulled away by her Master, and they left Rin and the other Servant alone.

Apparently the white haired man realized this too. He tensed when the twin tailed girl slowly walked up to him from the side.

"Arch...Shirou." Rin carefully spoke up. She seemed to be inspecting him from head to toe. Her keen turquoise eyes drank in his toned frame and his snow white hair. She lingered on his eyes for a few moments, before continuing. "How long have you been a magus?"

"Is this the time, Master?" Shirou carefully asked. He kept Medusa and Sakura on the side of his vision.

"It's important. Sakura and I planned things out. She knows what Medusa can do as Saver thanks to their connection." She stepped forwards and poked him in the chest. "But you keep blocking me. I never could pick up what you were able to do even as...whoever you were before. I can tell you've changed, though."

"...I can't-" Rin interrupted him by forcing him to take a step back with her whole body.

"Yes you can. Because you wanted me to believe in you. So **let me in**." Both felt Rin restrain herself from bearing enough will down to trigger a Command Spell. The dark haired girl scowled up at him. Her hands reached up and grabbed his coat. "The copy of Zelretch should only be able to be used by my bloodline."

"Rin..." Shirou began. Yet seeing the haunted look in her turquoise eyes forced him to gulp.

"How badly did I screw up if an innocent like you grew up to be this?" Rin demanded.

"I...creatures like giants of shadow manifested before you died. Or whatever those dark giants are called. I've never run into any Sak...anyone that actually have named them. Nor have I really gotten an explanation on how they work." Shirou licked his lips. He shook his head angrily. "They ate everyone in their path. Like...giant voids would spring out beneath them and swallow everything."

"Fuyuki...?" Rin relaxed her grip when she saw that faintly haunted look on Shirou's face return. "Gone, huh..."

"The last thing I really remember was a bright white light when Taiga-ne...Emiya-san shoved me out of the way of a skeleton familiar." Shirou rapidly blinked his eyes as he shifted. Rin chewed on the tip of her tongue as she let him go.

She looked away as the white haired man coughed and looked off to the side.

"It's so stupid." Shirou suddenly spoke up. His voice sounded oddly thick. "I think the day before that point I was just goofing around with the track club. Then bang...everyone dies."

"...how did you survive?" Rin wondered. She squirmed in place, and her eyes moved to glance at her sister to reassure herself that she was still there. "Urobuchi-kun of this time isn't a magus...well, I guess you prove that he has the potential, huh?"

"That's right. I can only offer you a guess." Shirou pointed at the skies. Rin's weaker magical senses twinged. She felt the flow of prana over their heads as she followed his finger. "Angra Mainyu flooded the city with prana. It most likely awoke my magic circuits."

"How did you get out?" Rin moved to gaze over at Shirou's face. The man's voice grew steadier, and he uncomfortably shrugged. "I can feel that this monster would have destroyed everything human if it had even leaked out."

Shirou uncomfortably shrugged again. "I didn't get out on my own. I had help from your Servant." His face clearly showed his reluctance to keep speaking. "But the week afterward was hell. Fuyuki and the entire region around it was wiped clean of all life."

"...wait. You said I died. How could my Servant have kept existing." Rin felt a shiver go down her spine when she saw the empty look in Shirou's eyes.

"We...wanted to find someplace clean to finally put your body to rest." Shirou's words robbed Rin of any of her words. "Archer also said it was the lesser of two evils. That keeping you around would keep me alive."

The ground beneath their feet trembled.

"Oneechan!" Rin and Shirou snapped their gazes out towards the center of the park. An immense flare of prana nearly crushed them where they stood when the gout of magical energy erupted up towards the sky.

"Zouken!" Shirou angrily shouted. He started rushing towards the direction before he finished his sentence. A black and red blur rushed besides him where Rin moved to flank him. He glanced over at her in surprise.

"We're fighting together!" Rin insisted with a slightly wobbling voice. A spark of fear thrummed through her body from thoughts of her fate in Shirou's world had been.

"...let's go, partner." Shirou offered her an encouraging smile. The dark haired girl firmly nodded, and the two of them rushed onwards.

Sakura turned towards her Servant. Just as her sister and Shirou rushed off into the heavily wooded area and out of sight, she spoke up. "Medusa. Can you do it?" Her gaze firmed as she gazed straight into her Servant's purple eyes.

"Yes, Master." The teenager closed her eyes, and brought her hands to her heart. She formed a clear vision of her beloved Pegasus in her mind. She winced when she felt her muscles clench painfully around her torso.

'Pegasus...' Medusa tried to call out.

"Medusa!" Sakura shouted in concern. Multiple thin cuts formed along Medusa's exposed flesh. Faint traces of blood stained her Servant's gown as she twitched in place. Sakura took a step closer to call off the summoning, but the Gorgon merely shook her head silently in response.

This was the price she had to pay. One that had increased even more with her transformation. Pegasus had been a gift to her when she had been a flawed goddess. The discrepancy between what she was now, and what she had been then was a wide valley she had to travel.

Thousands of needles lacerated and pierced her flesh. Heat rushed through her veins. Her head swam dizzyingly, and blood filled her mouth. Medusa stoically allowed the invocation to take a pound of flesh in exchange for invoking paradox into the world by using something she should never have.

The Saver offered to Pegasus a sacrifice of blood and a prayer. A prayer that desperately begged the Phantasmal Beast to look past the surface of her soul, and to look deeper into her very sense of self. To not shy away in fear.

Pegasus answered. The blood pooling around Medusa was drawn into a ritual summoning circle between the Gorgon and Sakura, where an elegant and sleek horse materialized between them. Pegasus radiated serenity from its pristine and flowing white mane to its strongly muscled body and twitching tail.

"A-amazing..." Sakura breathed out. The Phantasm Beast tapped one of its hooves up against the ground, fluttering its beautiful wings out nervously as it gazed at Sakura with wary eyes. The magus gasped and quickly diverted more prana flow into Medusa when the teenaged Gorgon stumbled to rest against her friend.

"Pegasus...you came." Medusa weakly smiled, feeling her wounds knit. The divine fabric of her gown shimmered, and the stains in it vanished. The Gorgon felt her strength slowly return to her, and gently wrapped her arms around Pegasus.

The kind creature let out a quiet whinny and nuzzled its face against the girl in wonder.

"Heheh. Surprising, isn't it?" Medusa gave Pegasus a light kiss. The Phantasm Beast relaxed, drooping its wings and folding them up against its body. "A Hero helped me to become like my sisters, Pegasus."

Pegasus nickered curiously when it looked over at Sakura.

"She's my Master." Medusa explained. She paused for a moment. Was that really everything she was after everything was said and done? She decided to put that thought aside for now. "Her homeland is in danger. All I can do is support her and the other fighters with my powers."

Pegasus glanced at Sakura with a gentle look before leaning forwards. Sakura shyly offered her hand to the Phantasm Beast. He took a few moments to sniff at her hand before looking over at Medusa. She could only offer Pegasus a sad smile.

"Please... I can't fight anymore. I won't ask you to fight either." The Gorgon knew that Pegasus was holding back due to the remaining bits of the Matou Crest within Sakura. Medusa remained silent. If the Phantasm Beast had accepted her...then maybe it would accept Sakura, despite the dark and festering things within her Master's body.

Pegasus waited for a few long moments, gazing into Sakura's eyes. It dipped its head and licked her hand. The dark haired magus happily brushed her fingers along the Phantasmal Beast's face, and it softly nickered in pleasure.

"Let's go, Sakura!" Medusa cheered. She gave Pegasus a loving squeeze, and swept up onto his back. She leaned over and offered Sakura a hand up. Pegasus waited until both girls settled down onto its back, before it flared its wings from its body.

Sakura let out a shriek. She clutched onto Medusa as the two of them rose into the skies.

* * *

The welcoming foyer to the Einzbern Castle was in ruins. The massive front doors were shattered and lying in pieces throughout the ground. Several exorbitantly priced pieces of furniture were floating around the air. Smoke and sawdust mixed thickly in the air.

The guardian of the castle flew back as another explosion rocked the ground next to her. The maid moved too late to avoid it. She could only twist about to prevent it from killing her outright as she soared through the air.

Leysritt heard the stone shatter with the loud echo of her halberd smashing into the ground. She shortly joined it, crashing down on the grand staircase that led up to the top floors of the castle. Her dress and body was in mangled ruins. Her left leg was mangled into a chunk of meat and her right arm was shattered in five different places.

Thankfully, the core of her body was still mostly in one piece. Her left arm and right leg throbbed. The chunk of flesh missing over her left ribs spat out blood, and her muscles leveraged her into a swaying stand as she pivoted herself to her feet.

Leysritt kept her empty crimson gaze on Kiritsugu and Saber as they approached. The blonde knight was standing in front of the dark haired man as he drew out another grenade. Saber gripped her hands around her sword.

"Just stop." Saber tried once again. Leysritt wondered if this Hero was mad. She had kept trying to dissuade her once Kiritsugu began to aid the blonde's fighting. "I don't wish to earn a victory like this. But I will if you don't not desist this moment."

Leysritt merely responded by flaring her magic circuits. Her lips drew back as she lowered herself to rush the two invaders.

"Stop!" Ilyasviel's voice, strong and proud, rang out over the foyer. Leysritt immediately froze as a crushing pressure filled the area. Her gaze remained frozen on the two invaders for any underhanded tricks. "On what grounds have you assaulted a member of my staff?"

Saber tensed. Her gauntlets creaked as the pressure she was gripping Excalibur with caused the metal to strike each other and draw a spark.

'Herakles.' The blonde's green eyes gazed past the frozen maid to a massive bronze giant that manifested out of the ether. His gleaming eyes glared down at the king with enough killing intent to slaughter lesser men.

Kiritsugu's gazed whipped over to the giant's side. A tiny girl with silver hair and dressed in rich purple was standing arrogantly in front of her Servant. Another homunculus, slimmer but possessing much more magical power than the first, stood at attention at the girl's side.

"Ilya-chan..." The damning word slipped out of his mouth before Kiritsugu could take it back. The dark skinned girl was an physical match for his daughter when she was young. The girl gazed imperiously down at him.

"...Se, get Li out of here. Father fights dirty," Ilyasviel coldly answered Kiritsugu's call. The maid curtsied and quickly moved to pull the wounded girl away. The young girl swiftly moved to be guarded by the giant as he repositioned himself to guard the two maids.

"...hold on, Leysritt." Sella calmly reached down. The other maid placidly nodded, and grasped her working arm around her fellow homunculus.

Tensions rose as Leysritt silently dragged her bleeding and mangled body away with Sella's aid.

"Arm yourself, Herakles. Let's not give Arturia an advantage if we can help it," Ilyasviel commanded. The giant reached an arm into the ether and drew out a massive ax carved from solid stone. "Good. We do not wish to stain that noble man's weapon with traitorous blood."

Saber shifted her legs to get into a better position for battle. Her mind began churning with that bit of information. Could Ren be still alive?

"You've come for my life, Father?" Ilyasviel continued. The young girl's eyes danced with mirth. "I had not expected you to be so bold. Did you expect Ilyasviel von Einzbern to summon a weakling? Especially after you betrayed m-us and ran off with that failure?"

"He's not Saber's Master. I am. I've come for my father." Shirou's voice called out. The red haired teenager entered the ruined foyer through the destroyed doors. He had an arm held out to keep Caren behind him.

"W-who...?" The flame of Ilyasviels' temper briefly flickered, her red gaze darting around Kiritsugu and towards Shirou.

"Ilyasviel von Einzbern..." Shirou glanced around their surroundings. He paused and considered what Kiritsugu had told him before. These were nobles, right? "Lady Einzbern. My name is Shirou Urobuchi. Saber told me that my father may have been taken by you."

"...Sir Urobuchi." Ilyasviel sounded the name out. Herakles and her exchanged gazes. "How can I tell you're being honest."

"Come before my Master to prove your sincerity." Herakles' voice boomed out.

'Oh, old man. I'm going to kill you if you haven't been killed yet,' Shirou darkly thought. It was all it took before that golden gaze to keep from collapsing to his knees. His arm jerked backwards when he took a step forwards.

Caren clutched on his shoulder. "Let me go," She hissed.

"What's this?" Ilyasviel loudly called down to the four of them. A malicious smile crossed her lips. "Are you **hesistating**, Sir Urobuchi?" Her eyes moved over towards Caren. She growled. "Miss Mediator...are you playing favorites?"

"Stay here, Ortensia-san." The redhead gently pried her hand open. The white haired teenager gazed at him with faint worry in her own golden eyes. "It's fine. I'm not lying."

The older man and Saber gave Shirou pointed gazes when he walked past them. Especially Saber.

'Oh, she's going to be mad about this later, isn't she?' Shirou mused to keep from focusing on the thought of the giant crushing him like a bug.

"Stop." Ilyasviel ordered when he was more than halfway towards them. "...why weren't you with your father?"

"Einzbern! Cease this foolishness!" Caren's voice snapped. Her hands twisted in front of her angrily. "We don't have ti-!"

"Of course we have time. You all hurt my Li." Ilyasviel growled back. Herakles' eyes flashed as her voice took on a honeyed tone. "I should really be making you all grovel before me...but I don't want to drag an innocent into this."

"Especially if he is the son of the man that saved Master," Herakles continued.

"We are just determining guilt, yes," Ilyasviel replied with a smirk.

Saber's feet slid a bit forwards in the dust.

Herakles' eyes narrowed. A magnificent pressure erupted out from his frame and swept past Shirou to focus on Saber.

Saber's breath came out of her lungs in a gasp. She immediately felt the certainty of death descend on her from nine different directions simultaneously. The blonde knew that if she even twitched ahead a bit ...she was going to die.

Shirou softly cursed as his muscles locked up in fear. Ilyasviel snapped her fingers. The feel of death's boney hand released his shoulder. His senses and body desperately assured his heart and mind that his immediate surroundings were safe once again.

"Please speak, Sir Urobuchi," Ilyasviel gently questioned Shirou. The silver haired girl's moodswings frightened the redhead. Almost as much as her face and body frightened him. His Ilya would never toy with people to this degree...

Would she?

"I'm training to be a Wi...Magus, since I was chosen by the Grail to fight." Shirou caught his slip. Best not antagonize the possibly psychotic little girl. From the spark of interest in Ilyasviel's eyes, he had apparently chosen to start his story correctly. "I didn't want to endanger my father... so I stayed away from him."

"Magi are cruel, yes," Ilyasviel mused. Her hateful stare turned back towards Kiritsugu. "Are you teaching him, Father?"

"...you could say that." The older man coolly returned. His own eyes were as empty as the maid doll he had attempted to break apart earlier as he sunk into his killer's persona. "I needed him to get to the Grail."

"Then why didn't you stay!" Ilyasviel snarled. Her magic circuits flared at once, a nimbus of energy briefly flaring around her as blood red lines appeared on her dark skin.

"Master!" Herakles' sharp voice grew hazy in the homunculus' head. Bile rose to her throat and her limbs quaked with fury.

Shirou took a step back when part of the bannister near her shattered under the force of her power. Ilyasviel's expression immediately slackened at seeing the redhead's reaction. Her face softened, and she took a haggard breath.

"...forgive that crass display." Ilyasviel's circuits deactivated as she brought herself under control. "What did your father wield?"

Shirou nervously glanced at the dark skinned girl, and then at the giant.

"Be calm." Herakles patiently spoke. The massive slab of stone he was wielding sort of kept Shirou from completely relaxing in the face of the man's statement, though. "Your father was wielding a weapon. We simply wish to confirm what it was."

"...probably built that chainsaw naginata we always talked about," Shirou replied. They had always joked that it'd be the best way to either frighten or go out with a bang if the world was doomed anyway. "Did it work?"

Ilyasviel remained silent, observing the redhead. His eyes were wide and shining with an unknown emotion deep within.

Herakles gave him a friendly smile. "My Master is standing before you, isn't she?"

Shirou took a deep breath. That same light within his eyes grew stronger. "Is he...?"

"No...he's alive," Ilyasviel softly replied. The tension in Shirou's body visibly faded. Softness returned to what had been growing into an increasingly tense facade. "What's your father's name, Sir Urobuchi?"

"Ren. Ren Urobuchi." Shirou offered the young girl a tentative smile. "Thank you so much for helping him. You can call me Shirou, Lady Einzbern. I'm not really...a Sir." He thought of his many personal failings in the War and before that point. "Definately not a Sir."

Ilyasviel snorted. Her hands came up to clasp around her mouth in shock. "O-okay...Sh-shirou?" The girl sounded the name out. A pleased look crossed her face when he gave her a stronger smile.

Herakles glanced over at the others behind Shirou. "We owe your father thanks for saving my Master." He carefully replied as he looked at Shirou.

"Y-yes, that's true!" Ilyasviel clapped her hands. "Come up here and I'll take you to see your pap-father." She visibly chewed on her lip. The Master of Einzbern let out an irritated huff at her own childish slip, and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Wait where you are, Einzbern." Caren suddenly called out. She felt impressed in the redhead's handling of the situation despite the initial foolhardiness. "We need to discuss further things before you go."

"...like what?" Ilyasviel replied with clear annoyance in her face. "S-Shirou and I need to go see Lord Urobuchi. It's a private matter." She glanced over at Saber and Kiritsugu intently for a few moments. Ilyasviel huffed and presented them her profile. She decided to wave them off with a flick of her wrist. "Everyone else is boring. Go away."

Caren traded alarmed glances with Shirou. The redhead moved to try and backup the nun. "Lady Einzbern, the mediator wants to cancel the war." He felt those piercing red eyes on him. "J-just until we get the current crisis resolved."

"...go on." Ilyasviel relaxed. At the same moment, Herakles lowered his massive stone ax.

Shirou felt himself liking the giant more already. "Those monsters are killing people from my city." He paused as he tried to come up with a more assholeish reason. He tried to think like he did whenever he got online. "The secret of magic will get loose. Those worms are going to expose us to those damn dirty...uhm...mudbloods? Who have AIDs?"

'Wow. Thinking like a Magus is surprisingly easy.' Shirou marveled when Ilyasviel slowly nodded. It still looked like he had to bring his A-Game to finish convincing her. What a sociopathic little girl. She would almost make some of his fellow imageboard 'friends' proud.

"So...cometh forth and ride under our banner." Shirou's voice grew louder. He began to bounce around in between his group and Team Einzbern. "For we will not suffer defeat! This. Is. FUYUKI!"

Silence met that.

Ilyasviel had a bland smile on her face. She put her arms behind her back, and leaned towards him. "Doesn't sound very convincing to me," She chided. A teasing smile was on her lips. "I have you here now along with your dadd-**father**. I don't want to go out there."

Shirou glanced back at the others. They responded with pained grimaces and a shrug from Kiritsugu. Lots of help on that corner.

'Alright,' If Ilyasviel wasn't going to fall to the A-Game. 'Time for THE-Game.'

Shirou promptly switched his brain off and let every heard and seen bit of movie trivia fill his throat. It apparently had worked well for him a few times before...

"Shame on you, Lady Einzbern." Shirou arrogantly tutted and wagged a finger at the silver haired girl. "This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you're going to let it be the worst. And I guarantee a week won't go by in your life you won't regret walking out, letting them get the best of you!"

"H-hey! You're making me sound like the bad guy here!" Ilyasviel yelped. She nearly fell forward, but Herakles' hand gently grasped and pulled her back.

"Well, I'm not going home. We've come too far!" Shirou shook his head angrily. His hands trembled as he placed them on his chest. "And I'm going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause. A day may come when the courage of men fails... but it is not THIS day."

Kiritsugu gave out a tired sigh. He knew where this was going.

"The line must be drawn HERE!" Shirou shouted, reinforcing his body, and reached to pick up the halberd on the ground. He turned and ran outside. Bemused, the crowd went after him.

"This far, no further!" Shirou continued, and with a sweep of his arms, he slashed a line on the ground outside on the lawn of the castle. "I'm not saying it's going to be easy. You're going to work harder than you ever worked before. But that's fine, we'll just get tougher with it!"

On a morbid level, Kiritsugu wondered if this was how Shirou had gotten his daughter's virginity. Both Saber and Ilyasviel's eyes began to shimmer.

"If a person grits his teeth and shows real determination, failure is not an option. That's how winning is done!" Shirou turned and shook the halberd at them with one arm. Electricity sparked and raced along his body as he focused on Herakles. "Believe me when I say we can break this army here, and win just one for the Gipper. But I say to you what every warrior has known since the beginning of time: you've got to get mad. I mean plum mad dog mean!"

Herakles smirked in barely concealed mirth. Shirou turned towards Saber now with a look just shy of plain deranged faith.

"If you would be free, then you must fight to fulfill that promise! Let us cut out their living guts one inch at a time, and they will know what we can do!" Shirou rushed up to her and took her hand in his. Saber sputtered as he drew close. "Let no man forget how menacing we are. We are lions!"

"...yes! Yes we are!" Saber's sudden booming declaration caused Kiritsugu to slap his face. Caren covered her lips with her hand to hide her blooming smile.

"Hey! What about me!" Ilyasviel replied, feeling ignored all of a sudden.

"You're like a big bear, Lady Einzbern!" Shirou stabbed the halberd into the earth. He quickly moved to capture Ilyasviel's hands in his. "This is YOUR time! Seize the day, never surrender, victory or death... that's the Fuyuki Way!"

"...okay!" Ilyasviel went bright red. She let out a delighted laugh when Shirou picked her up in his arms and turned to present his profile to the others.

"Who's with me?" Shirou roared. At that moment, a massive pillar of prana exploded towards the heavens. The earth trembled beneath their feet when a large mass of corrupt power blasted past them. Ilyasviel shrieked as she buried her face into Shirou's neck.

"HURRAH!" Saber and Herakles shouted as they raised their weapons. Caren had a rather twisted grin on her face. Kiritsugu faintly smirked.

"Alright!" Shirou's free hand grasped the halberd and wrenched it out of the earth. "Let's fly!" A secondary burst of energy shot upwards into the night sky, and exploded in a brilliant burst of light. The sparkles remaining formed words.

**All right chums, time's up, let's do this.**

'...magnificent bastard.' With those words, it all clarified in Shirou's slightly frayed state of mind.

…

Medea nearly said a foul word on the spot. Only her lifetime as royalty kept her from quoting some of the more bawdy words she had learned from Jason and his friends. She tossed the worm she had been trying to scry off to the side when the massive plume of prana erupted in the distance.

"...my scrying says that's the location," The Witch snarled. The others around her looked amused, and they hurriedly prepared themselves to go to war.

…

Iskander banked hard down a street. Miyu let out a shriek of exhilaration, clutching tightly onto the giant man's legs.

Iskander's Noble Phantasm was amazing!

Gordius Wheel was **huge**. Larger than any vehicle she had seen before. Even standing within its protective chassis, she could scarcely comprehend its majesty. A construct of wood, ivory, and steel that dwarfed every car they had come across. The chariot rumbled atop a road of lightning, pulled by twin bulls whose hooves thundered with each step. Its double-rimmed, stone wheels charred and churned the earth beneath it, leaving deep furrows in its wake. Shielding either side were massive gleaming sickles of such purity, they still shone even when coated in the blood of the undead.

The side wheel, larger than most cars, casually crushed a group of undead that had been harassing four teenagers. The King of Conquerors approved when the blue haired and auburn haired men took the fight to the ones remaining.

"Mr. Conqueror, we have to go back and help them!" Miyu cried, tugging at Iskander's cloak with one hand. In the other, she had a thick book open. She was currently peering within it. "We must 'stamp out each and every instance of heresy'!" She quoted solemnly, and gazed up at him with wide sherry eyes.

"Of course, Master!"

Iskander grasped the reigns on his chariot and twisted. The two Divine Bulls of Heaven heeded his call, and they twisted. The front end of a building was crushed as Iskander turned back, and had his chariot flash by again. The massive gleaming scythe on the left and right sides sliced through more of the foul Dead.

Iskander gave an encouraging grin at the two females – a slim black haired girl and a more curvaceous auburn haired teenager wielding a crowbar as the two bulls continued galloping onwards. With each stamp of their hooves on the lightning forming beneath his chariot, bolts of electricity blasted outwards and behind him and his Master to destroy the last remnants of the undead.

"Hah..." The King of Conquerors tightened his hold on the reigns of the Divine Bulls, and brought them to heel. The massive wheels of his war chariot, Gordius Wheel, halted, and he gazed down at the four teenagers. "It gladdens me to see that the modern era can still produce such fine warriors!"

"W-who are you?" The more timid of the females spoke.

"This is the mighty Iskander! King of the Conquerors and hero of the …" Miyu began strong, but quickly had to refer the large book she had gotten from her brother's house. "Impeeruhm." She leaned over to peer at them over the chariot's sides. "I'm Miyu Inui! You're the fifth group we found tonight! Hop into Gordius Wheel and we'll take you to safety!"

All four of the teenagers relaxed a bit at seeing the girl. Despite the amount of insanity involved, so long as there was something normal to focus on it was just fine.

"I'm Issei Ryuudou." The blue haired teenager shifted his cracked glasses up his face. His left arm hung limply at his side.

"...Minori Mitsuzuri." The auburn haired teenager looked pale. A large compress was set on his right arm.

"Ay-ayaka." The black haired girl was the one most covered in blood. The knife in her hands was rattling a bit. Her shakes began to calm down the longer they spoke. "Sajyou..."

Ayako was merely staring in shock. Her eyes seemed a bit dull at the moment, and she shivered a bit. The crowbar she had been holding when they arrived was on the ground uselessly.

"Ayako..." Minori grimaced. He looked at the others and shook his head. "Shock."

Iskander and Miyu exchanged looks before he stepped off the chariot, and gently helped her onto the chariot first. He calmly removed the cloak and draped it around her.

"The rest of you come in." Miyu moved to hold onto Ayako's hand. Issei picked up the crowbar and the other three teenagers just barely managed to squeeze in.

Miyu felt a bit of heat leave her body when the Bulls of Heaven began to pull the chariot once again. Iskander and she would have to check out that distant plume of energy after they dropped off the teenagers.

…

Zouken howled as his body rebelled against him. The divine prana within the mana of the ley lines burned off the top later of his skin. But he still managed to complete his final invocation.

"Become bound to me...shadow!"

The geyser of prana darkened as he used the stolen bits and pieces of Sakura's sorcery traits within his Soul Worm. A large mass of undead had been gathering in the epicenter all night to leech off the energy. These...these hardy bodies had magic circuits already within them.

Even if it was a few. When combined together...

Zouken Matou's desperate and final plan to attain immortality began to come to fruition as the crowd of Familiars melted together into a singular, fleshy mass. The power of the binding rituals and dominance spells slammed into that grouping of Dead as he began to form one massive Familiar to pierce.

"I will see Fuyuki **burn**." Zouken hacked, just as his last attempt to gain immortality rose higher and higher into the night sky. The Dead that had begun to gather after the fact moved to protect him and his masterpiece.

His Gravedigger.

The monstrous worm shaped familiar opened its maw and let out a booming wail as it was born into the world. Its decaying flesh bled pus, and fluids coated its dark gray skin. Plants withered and died as power was siphoned out from the ley lines beneath Fuyuki City. Gravedigger screeched as ritualistic markings on its body blazed, and the souls of the recently dead began to swarm into its unholy body.

Zouken began to chant long dead tongue. Old, half forgotten memories began to return to the magus as his words flowed through the final spell he would cast before he either failed or was annihilated from existence forever.

The cloud of dark insects around him buzzed eagerly, and the shroud of prana around his body shivered in anticipation. He didn't even notice when a bright flare went up into the sky.

"Grand Holy Grail...awaken!" Zouken felt a flash of burning killing intent pierce his back. The rapidly decaying magus spun to face the source. A group of undead were vaporized by a flash fire, and a sea of flame began to spread outwards across the horizon.

A girl with loose dark hair and a shredded red top and black skirt stood next to an equally banged up white haired man in a dark suit. Both of them looked visibly worn to the ancient magus' eyes, pale of cheek and gaunt of flesh. Yet both of them regained their vigor when a blazing white star rose up in the heavens.

Zouken's senses twinged with recognition when he laid eyes at the star above. "...she survived my exit. I'm impressed," He mused despite himself. Sakura had always been such a hardy girl growing up. "Tohsaka! Why are you opposing my will? Were we not allies?" He called out with a magically reinforced voice.

"You're the one who's betraying us, Matou!" Rin responded angrily. "I will not have you do what you will with my land and my people!"

"...heh. Then you fail as a True Magus, Tohsaka!" Zouken sneered. "Your heart should have been closed off for ages! You're pathetic. A true shame to your lineage! Tokiomi should have sent you to me instead of the girl!"

Rin drew back in shock as his words. "I..."

"Rin!" The older man's shout snapped Rin out of her daze. "This isn't the time to listen to lectures!"

Zouken snarled. "Then you'll be the first to die! What's your name? I will have the worms curse you with it when they devour your mind from the inside out!"

"_Henshin!_" The white haired man spun both of his knives around. Their forms shimmered, and ghostly images of a crystal blue sword with cool mist surrounding it and a dark and brown sword with bits of boiling magma peeking out within it formed over his two knives.

The images shattered. The weapons now grasped in his hands.

The man grinned widely at Zouken. Too widely.

"**LEEEEEERRRROOOY JEEEEEEENNNKKKIINNS!**" The hero roared, and rushed the army. The white star behind Tohsaka and her hero suddenly exploded in a shock wave of mana.

The signal was lit.

* * *

Next time – The Final Chapter: Disillusionment

"_This is my path..._"


	18. Chapter 18

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

AN: Thanks go to Mizuki_Stone on Space Battles for inspiring this rendition of the Archer's Reality Marble.

Chapter ran too long. So I'm slicing it in half. Enjoy part one.

Chapter 18: Disillusionment I

[̵̃͐̂͐͟Sͭͬ͆̽͜͝ú̵ͩccessfů̶ͮ͂̇l̶̒̊̉͐̽͊̂̾l͌̋̃ͣͪͧ̃͡y̶̓͆ ͐̍͌̈͌̉̏̽͒͠**Reboot̾͛̍̌̅҉e̴̷͑d̛ͧ͑͛̈́ͬͦ͂҉**]̏͊͂͛ͦ̈ͥ The Grand Holy Grail pulsed back to life in the depths of the mountain beneath the _Ryuudou_ Temple. The massive chamber that had been dug out of the earth had five exits – just like the other four locations it could be summoned throughout Fuyuki City. One was a standard exit that led people in and out of the summoning location. Only those authorized to summon forth the Grail, the Original Three Families and the Mediator, could walk in and out of these barriers. The other four exits were arteries that ran throughout the city in a network of tunnels. They carried prana in and out of the four main locations the Grand Holy Grail could be summoned to feed the vast Holy Grail War system.

The original core of the Grand Holy Grail, Lizleihi _Justica_ von Einzbern, had suffered too much damage since the Third Holy Grail War. Too many Magi attempted things that the original creators had not foreseen in their wildest dreams, from splitting a single Servant Class into two aspects of the same Hero to even summoning Divine Spirit, and now the original core holding the system together was teetering on total collapse.

All was lost in this moment of weakness. Justica's soul was battered from every side as she lost complete access to the Grand Holy Grail. She screamed as she was sent tumbling through the darkness. Her empty gaze widened in greater horror, even if the conflicting errors cleared up as the System was taken over. The foul corruption that had tainted her System for two Wars now had ascended.

The core of the Holy Grail was now commanded by the greatest monster her family had ever drawn forth in the Wars. Even she, the Winter Saint famed for her stoic control over her emotions, now felt fear.

[̸ͣͮ͊̌̊͌̎ͩ**I̓ͥ͌ͥ̏͜ ̵̂̒̚͡Ç̸̛̓ͦͦ̐ͤ͆̚̚o̸̡ͧ̆͂̈ͧ̑͑͠m͐͋͐̾e̽̉̓̂͜.̶̨̈͐ͮ̓ͩ By the sacred pact mankind, I have come.**]̡̨ͮ͗̉̕

Servant Avenger.

[**I am the self loathing in the darkest corner of your heart. I am the hateful force that guides man to murder one another. I am in the center of your thoughts when you selfishly seek to attain wealth at the cost of others. I am eternity. I am faceless. I am the source of all evil in the world.**]

Angra Mainyu.

Justica desperately sought to draw forth the shards of Heaven's Feel that she still possessed. The manifestation of the core of the Winter Saint was surrounded in a protective bubble of golden light. The light of her soul shone out to counter the infinite darkness. Bloody claws and snapping, hungry jaws crashed against her soul, but she held steady as she was batted further away from the rusted central pillar. In this world of manifested Concepts such as her True Magic and All The Evils In The World, that silver pillar, with its parts all around it corroded to dirty browns and black spots, represented the command over the entire System.

Justica could only watch silently as it was consumed by a wave of black and red.

[**I am Angra Mainyu.**] In the real world, the towering monolith that held the soul of Justica alive was darkening. The organic red pillar's pulse and gyrations swiftly increased as the four vents in the massive cavern spewed corrupted prana and souls. The pillar's rate of darkening increased as the Grand Holy Grail started to rapidly pulse and quake, sending pieces of stone tumbling downwards.

It's form began to grow hazy as the tower shimmered and grow hazy as one of the hidden commands implanted in the Grand Holy Grail were activated. The Memetic Engine within the System irised open as it cast its sights and sensors out into the world to confirm. Information about the mores of mankind of this era flooded through the System, but its sights tightened specifically on the heart and soul of one human.

One of the remaining Founders was calling on the System.

'No! Don't do it, Makiri!' Justica silently pled. Her throat clenched in a silent scream as the System confirmed the request. Avenger, and Justica by proxy, both connected on a profound level with the Master of the Matou Clan. Justica's heart dropped to her stomach at seeing what the man had been reduced to doing for the sake of the Holy Grail War.

Avenger was elated. The entire system collapsed in a storm of dark prana as it flowed along the tunnels. Avenger had seen the darkness in Matou's heart. And he had approved. [**Let me grant your wish for destruction, my Master.]**

* * *

"_I am the Dream of an Age,_" Archer intoned as his blazing and frigid swords lashed around him like a dervish. Rotten flesh boiled and limbs shattered in a single subzero stroke. In a blink of an eye, he threw his body backwards as a gleaming emerald shone where he stood.

It shattered into a slicing tornado as it claimed the undead that had been seeking to swarm him. The white haired man responded by flinging Flamberge II with all his might towards Rin. The Zweihander, now altered into a cylindrical shaped sword and elementally enchanted by human belief, spewed magma from the wavy grooves on the sides of the blade.

Archer's magic circuits and his Master's pulsed in time as Rin leapt upwards. Her feet bounced off the head of an undead and used it as a footstep to launch herself higher before the undead was swept down to the ground by the rushing wave of magma.

The aura of enfeeblement that had been draining both Archer and Rin instantly collapsed as either ceramic or a wave of magma annihilated all the opposition on the dark haired girl's side of the battle field as twenty monsters were consumed by flowing heat.

"Behind you, Archer!" Sakura's voice warned from above, but it wasn't needed as Rin and Archer's magic circuits pulsed. Rin immediately twisted in mid-air as she oriented herself towards the undead rushing her Servant in the hopes of catching him unaware.

Rin cupped her right hand in her left. She extended her right finger towards her target. "_Gandr!_" The self hypnotic command served its purpose as the tightly packed sphere of darkness shot past Archer's ear and smashed into the face of a female corpse. Her mostly rotten skull creaked for a moment before it caved in under Rin's modified curse.

Archer stabbed Vorpal Sword II into the brown grass beneath him, instantly shriveling the earth up as a thick layer of frost formed around the sword. Archer whipped out his free hand behind him. A prana string lashed out from his bare hand and wrapped around Rin's waist. Once it was secured, Archer gripped the string with both hands and pulled hard.

"Aaah!" Rin yelped in shock as her body was pulled away from where it was descending towards a pool of magma.

The hero casually whistled as he held his arms out and let her lightly land in them.

"...you jackass!" Rin stuttered as she roughly shove her short skirt down over her legs. She turned around and immediately ruined her outfit's position by furiously kicking her legs out in embarrassment. "Don't whip delicate girls around like a wrecking ball!" She blushed as he set her down on the ground. More of the undead Zouken had called charged them from up ahead.

"I'll make sure to let you land in a pool of lava next time, Master." Archer reached over towards the glass like hilt of Vorpal Sword II and twisted it, snapping the hilt off and leaving the blade embedded in the earth.

"Shirou, why did you do that to your sword!" Medusa called down as Pegasus and its riders lowered closer to Rin and Archer.

Medusa focused on the two with softly glowing purple irises as Sakura laid a hand down her bare shoulder and gestured at her sister and senpai. Both of them felt their deep bone wariness begin to vanish.

"Don't worry. I needed to replace my base. By the way, call me Archer. I already had told Rin on the way here. We're going to be meeting the other Shirou Urobuchi soon. It'll confuse everyone if there's two of us."

The three women watched as a small crater formed beneath Archer's feet and below the blade of the crystal blue sword. In a blink of an eye, there were now two fully formed weapons. The white haired man rearmed himself.

"...like?" Archer grinned at Rin.

"Hmph. You're just...altering the earth into your weapons?" Rin tentatively wondered. He merely nodded as he tested both blades, leaving cold fog in their swings.

"Still...it was amazing how you two fought together." Medusa replied. She had fended off unified groups of men from taking her sisters in her day. She could recognize teamwork for what it was. "This is the first time you've fought together, right?"

"Yes. It is." Rin rapidly blinked her turquoise eyes in surprise as she turned to look at Archer. He merely glanced away from her to look up at Sakura.

"Well, you two have a rather abnormally high awareness of where the other is standing, then. Then again, maybe that's a trait of the Archer class. I certainly was never as aware of where Sakura was when I was Rider."

"Have you had any success taking control over any of those worms in the horde, Sakura-chan?" Archer asked. Sakura sadly shook her head in denial. She hesitated a moment before continuing.

"Grandfa...Zouken has the main section of the family crest back now. I only have the scraps. So long as he does, the best I can do is instinctively know where the worms are located. Just like how he can tell where I am." Sakura replied.

"...you use gemcraft, don't you?" Something in Rin's head clicked at Sakura's words. With Archer's faint nod, she felt nausea rise in her body once again.

"A bit. Anyway, let's go. I want to introduce the human concept of absolute cold to Zouken's face." Archer interrupted her from dwelling on it. Rin's gaze moved towards her Servant's left arm and saw a spark of green light from beneath the dark sleeve.

"...okay." Rin reluctantly replied as she turned her back on her sister and her Servant follow Archer out towards the horde. She could feel the depth of her connection to Archer extend further than mere Master and Servant...

"Rin!" Sakura's sharp rebuke caused the older girl to stumble when her next words came through. "What are you **doing **stuffing a knife back there!" The twin tailed girl let out a tiny squeak as her hands slapped over her lower back.

Rin hurriedly spun around and raced backwards to keep Sakura from seeing anymore.

'Keep your eyes forwards, keep your eyes forwards!' Rin repeated as a mantra as she flushed.

"Aah..." Medusa paused. A strange half smile crossed her face. "She likes to live dangerously too."

Sakura leaned a bit away from Medusa. "Good luck, oneechan! Don't do weird things like that again!" The dark haired girl wagged a finger at her as they rose up into the heavens on Pegasus' back again.

Rin trembled as she heard Archer's chuckle next to her. She went bright red as his sherry eyes briefly went towards her posterior and back to her face. "Need me to cast a Keen enhancement on that dagger? I can't imagine it being very sharp where you keep it."

"...it's my Mystic Code." The Master of Tohsaka defended. She mentally ran through the digital grimoire she had in her skirt pocket. "Azoth. It's not my fault I only have so much room in my pockets!"

"Can't stuff the sheathe and knife in there?" Archer wondered.

"...no. Not since I got my cell...**digital grimoire**." Rin hurriedly corrected herself. It was for work, not to prattle.

Rin reached behind her back and drew the short knife out with a soft hiss from its sheath. Archer was smirking as his eyes went and glanced down at it. The knife's double edge formed a sharp point at the base of an finely carved wooden hilt. It was treated with some sort of coating to prevent it from being rusted. A large multifaceted ruby glowed with stored prana at the end of the hilt.

"I can reinforce it for you. Let me see what sort of history it has." Archer offered. The pieces of Zelretch he had left in his pockets would let him swap the weapon out with something that existed in this world, at least.

"That's fine, then." Rin smiled. He was taking this more maturely than he had been acting all along. Who knew?

"We need some cover. I need time to scry the history." Rin and Archer rushed into the tree cover. After a few moments they found a particular large tree to lean up against.

With their senses and the two Pegasus riders in the sky, they had enough warning for any trap.

"_To strive without limits, And reach beyond grasp,_" Archer's view of the world shifted. Swirling columns of raw data began to spring and sway around Rin and himself. He glanced down at the weapon in his hands.

Archer's expression went completely flat when he saw the history of Azoth in his mind's eye. His back rubbed against the bark of the tree as he jerked in surprise. He delicately held the Mystic Code away from him as he relabeled it as a weapon in his mind.

"...hey! You said you wouldn't make any lame jokes!" Rin frowned, misunderstanding his reactions.

"I...that Mystic Code of yours tasted blood." Archer glanced at her. His sherry eyes dimmed a bit.

"No way!" Rin rapidly shook her head to deny Archer's words. "I never used this except as a focus to use my magic. Or just to pour some excess energy into once in a while."

"But ...it definitely was used to kill someone at one point."

"I never would..." Rin desperately replied, "I was given this as a gift!" Both of their senses twinged.

Both of them leapt backwards as a pair of massive figures came rushing towards them. Their tank like frames of flesh and worm familiars hissed at Rin and Archer as they moved much faster than expected.

"This just makes Azoth all the more useful right now!" The two hulking giants roared as they rushed at the two of them. Both Master and Servant were forced apart as they raced in opposite directions as the two giants bull rushed them.

"_Unaware of regret, Nor caring of price,_" A history of recorded weaponry flashed through his mind. Each and every weapon deadly in its own way, but only one fit as a worthy substitution for Azoth's history.

Rin roared as she leapt backwards. Her magic crest flared, a forest green collection of runes on her left forearm, adding the experiences of her forebearers to her own casting abilities.

"_Without restraint I have touched all that can and will Exist, And yet... I've never really made anything._"

'God, I miss Emiya's skills so much right now.' Archer mourned as he was sent flying backwards as a chunk of prana was torn from his body. He tumbled into a roll as he unleashed a burst of his power into the earth.

A current of electricity raced through the dead earth and lit up a patch where he saw Rin was going to land.

"_Gandr!_" Rin shouted in mid-air. Black spheres fired out from the tip of her index finger at speeds rivaling a machine gun. The rapid-fire curses physically tore off chunks of the massive beast but didn't close it in the least as it nearly slammed into her.

"_This is my path, the only goal I claim..._" Archer rolled away as a meaty fist smashed where his chest used to be as he lashed out with his sword to freeze off part of the giant's leg. The small nick he managed to give it instantly slowed its mobility down as he staggered away.

Rin felt electricity shoot up her legs and up her arms into Azoth. Knowledge pounded into her head as the knife's blade suddenly shot outwards hungrily. Its thin blade sunk into the giant, which reacted with a high pitch screech of agony, as electricity crackled along the weapon.

The interior of the knife's blade grew transparent as a black liquid filled it from the knife's edge that was dug into the rotten corpse. It weakly pawed and batted at the weapon as its struggles grew lethargic. Chunks of its body began to flake off into ash as the electricity down into the wooden hilt, which grew black and thorny as the gemstone at the end shifted tones to a pitch black.

'This is...Azoth?' Rin's hands instinctively shifted to keep herself from gouging her hands on the weapon. No, this was no mere Mystic Code now, it was much more. The weapon flared and she understood its new name as it was transformed with Archer's reality marble.

"Consume, _Soma_!" Rin commanded. The wood beneath Rin's hands twisted eagerly in her hands. The dark gemstone shimmered as the knife shook. The giant squealed as its body began to deflate as white liquid mixed with dark blood in the center of the transformed Azoth.

The tank's body sagged as parts of it continued to collapse off its frame. Only empty sacks of worm skin and a rotting pile of flesh remained where Rin's opponent stood. She grinned as she lifted the weapon and watched it in the air.

Well, there was definitely more targets around she could try this on.

* * *

Rin shivered in delight as she hotly breathed out as she looked down at the remains of her enemy. She had gone through several in the last half hour alongside her hero. The white haired man apparently noticed that she was getting deeper into a trance.

"Don't let that weapon get under your skin, Rin!" Archer's chastisement brought her out of a pleasant daze. "I don't want you losing yourself to cursed material from a blood thirsty forest!" The bloodied dagger retracted back to its normal size as Rin embarrassedly focused on the Mystic Code.

The last bit of her trance was shattered with those words. Archer moved to dispatch the second giant as well with swift attacks. Its massive bulk came crashing down to earth in several flash frozen pieces as the white haired man spun out and cleaved off the monster's legs and then its head.

"Hoo..." Zouken's voice mused across the park towards them on the throats of his controlled bodies. "You've been to the Forest of Einnashe, huh? Well, then let's keep that vampiric blade out of reach!" Archer staggered to his knees as the area darkened significantly as eight crows burst out of the woods and flew above their heads.

Each of the beast's eyes flashed as they released a bounded field around the them, sealing them in the warped space/time field even as Medusa and Sakura dove down. A thick swarm of pitch black insects rose into the sky and shot towards the white comet.

* * *

Medusa immediately felt the pull of those insects on her prana as they rushed.

Sakura felt something even deadlier within them. She had only felt this power one time before, and it had been enough to end a person's life. "Pull up, Pegasus!"

The winged horse's flight curved to the side as the first set of insects visibly warped. The multicolored beetles leading the pack had sloshing liquid beneath the surface of their carapace.

At some invisible signal they began to swell up as their colors shifted to a blackish red color. A wave of black liquid and multitudes of sharpened spikes formed of said liquid splashed outwards as they exploded.

Pegasus let out a cry of pain as a few of the spikes brushed along the flank of the winged stead, leaving gouging marks. The winged mount swept hard to the right as dark smoke rose from its skin as blood flowed off its body.

More of the insects flew after them.

"Pegasus!" The Gorgon focused on her powers as she tried to purge the corruption within her friend. Another explosive wave of dark prana caused the horse to sharply rise and nearly throw Sakura off the stead. Medusa let out a sharp curse as her left arm lashed out around Sakura.

"Aaah!" Sakura's view of Medusa's long hair wobbled as she fell backwards a bit before jerking to a stop. Yet the Gorgon's arm trembled wearisomely as the teenager wrapped her arms around her Servant.  
Medusa's right arm was buried in Pegasus's thick mane as she felt her body break out into sweat from the ache building in her limbs from keeping them on. Her worry was compounded by how her own body was slowly starting to slide off the horse too.

'I'm really missing some of my old abilities right now.' The Gorgon thought in faintly petrified amusement. Both women let out a shriek as Pegasus dove. Dead brownish gold hornets tumbled around them as they launched their stingers in fast projectiles.

Six bodies shambled out of the woods in front of the two. They resembled the undead that had attacked Archer below with the sapping gel - their bloated bodies, with large and tumorous chunks of chalky white flesh were broken up with transparent flesh on their limbs. As the trio rushed to ground position, the six undead lifted their wet hands to aim at them.

Yet a pair of sharp eyes had caught onto Medusa and Sakura's death defying flight from several yards away. A maroon haired Enforcer swiftly made a judgment call as the six streamers of poisonous fluid shot straight at the two women.

"_Sowilo_!" Bazette smashed her fist into a chunk of stone. A spark lit up as her gloves ground against the surface of the stone. The light was absorbed into the stone as it briefly glowed golden before firing across the distance in a burst of speed.

Both Rin and Archer, visibly drained as they knelt within a dome of shadow, spotted the attack heading straight in between the shooters and Pegasus. Archer opened his mouth, but was interrupted by Rin, who furiously shouted.

Pegasus, with its honed senses, dedicated the attack and tensed as it spun in a move that would throw both riders off its back. Medusa's reduced ability to actually ride on her Phantasmal Beast friend couldn't sense Pegasus's intent either.

"He's going to do a barrel roll!" It was enough of a warning for both riders to clench onto each other and Pegasus. The pristine beast flared its wings outwards and flapped them hard as it banked to the side. A white aura flicked around the beast's body as it spun wildly off to the right in defiance of gravity.

Bazette's Sowilo rune went off like a miniature sun. Purifying light exploded outwards from the simple looking rock, releasing shock waves and glorious rays of sunlight that caused the undead familiars' bodies to burst apart at the seams. The transparent sacks on their bodies popped and let out clusters of worms as the empty bodies collapsed into useless puppets.

The cloud of insects were instantly vaporized as they were wholly made up of Zouken's tainted power. Zouken let out a mental howl of agony as the two way tie between the insects carried their pain into him due to their stronger bond.

Yet a small part of Zouken that wasn't in agony swiftly ordered the retreat of the crow familiars. Unlike the others, they could still be salvaged. The crows let out furious caws and flew away hurriedly, dropping the field around Rin and Archer.

Pegasus swept to a stop in mid-air as the remaining light shone on its flank. Thick smoke briefly rose from the black wounds before they turned into a healthier red. They were still bloody carvings, but the bizarre shadow magic wasn't ravaging its body now.

Both Rin and Archer staggered to their feet. Rin anxiously looked over at Pegasus and its riders and then at the slowly approaching newcomer in a suit. "Go on. I'll see what's going on." Archer volunteered.

"Thanks..." Rin rushed off towards the two women, who looked vaguely palish green after their introduction to Pegasus's last aerial trick. Soma's image was transparent over the hilt of Azoth that Rin was clutching as she rushed to her sister's side. Sakura was shakily trying to get lowered off the winged stead's back by an equally sickly looking Medusa as Bazette arrived.

"The War was canceled, right?" Archer called out. He probably didn't need to establish they were on the same side, but it never hurt to be sure. "I'm Servant Archer. Servant Rider, myself, and our Masters from Tohsaka Clan are here to stop the summons of Avenger."

'Master...' Archer called out.

'Yeah, I heard. I'll let Sakura and Medusa know. We don't want to confuse the issue.' Rin agreed.

"Avenger?" Bazette's eyes glanced at the two somewhat solid looking images of crystal swords in Archer's hands. He helpfully dispersed their images back to the original two knives he started with.

"An old devil that represents all the evil in the world. It's a Divine Spirit being called by Zouken Matou. If that old worm calls it down, it will destroy all of humanity, and there won't be anything we can stop it short of annihilating the Grail." Archer's explanation caused Bazette to curse.

"Should have guessed it. This is why I was originally called here. Sometimes uppity magi need a knockdown before they try to ruin things for everyone else." She offered her hand to Archer. "I'm Bazett Fraga McRemitz. I was sent here as an Enforcer to keep shit like this from happening."

The white haired man sheathed his knives before stepping forwards and shaking her hand.

Bazette sighed. She shook her head. "I need to let my Servant know I found you lot. He and I split so we could tackle two different attacks."

"How many are coming?" Archer hurriedly asked. He gestured over towards the center of the park. The massive form of a worm drawing in noxious looking streams of prana was looming in the distance. "That thing is spewing Servant weakening prana."

"We noticed. We have Caster and my Servant Lancer. We also have some mundanes that are armed with firearms. Lancer figured out it's best to stay away from them. They're tougher than humans and we know they drain prana with their mere presence."

"Good...what about Berserker?" Archer worriedly asked. If Herakles had turned on them...

"Saber, her master, the mediator, and another Enforcer went to parlay." Bazette glanced up angrily at the swirling mass of prana in the sky. "I need to let Lancer know what's going on."

"I've caught my second wind. I'm going to go onwards and keep them off our back." Archer turned and waved Rin, Sakura, and Medusa over. Pegasus had seemingly vanished in the brief time that Archer had been speaking to Bazette.

"What is it, Archer?" Medusa and the others approached.

"Let the others know what's going on. I've got enough prana to go back." The man spoke up. The two sisters and Medusa looked at each other. "I'll be nearby. I'm just going to make sure that they don't rush us again."

"...alright, go." Rin nodded. She was still feeling winded from having wielded Soma. Medusa's presence was just barely getting her back to fighting shape now that Azoth had returned to its natural state.

'Cú Chulainn, is everyone alright?' Bazette sent out.

* * *

'Yes, I took care of the others.' Lancer replied. Behind him, Taiga and Ilya led the yakuza members and Caster further into the park. Kuzuki and he were devoting themselves to keeping the group together. 'I felt you use my father's power, are you alright?'

'I needed to use it to help another group. I found the Tohsaka Clan and their Servants. Rider and Arch...' Bazette sighed as he shouted over their connection. Damn. So much for that.

'He's alive? Great! I'll be able to tear that idiot's head off when we're done!" Lancer eagerly awaited seeing the white haired punk. He'd pay him back three fold for pulling one over on him at the start of the war, yet!

'Haa...' Bazette sighed.

'I can't believe he screwed up badly enough you had to pull him a save.' Lancer had honestly expected better of his natural nemesis. The worst thing was that she was now down one of the strongest weapons Bazette and he had worked out. The Sowilo rune had been one of the few runes that he himself had worked on. It drew on the power of his bloodline.

They had only gotten to work around it thanks to the Master/Servant bond he had with Bazette.

'I still have two more. It's fine. I still have my own trump cards.' Bazette shook her head with a pleased smile. It was good to know that Lancer had her back when it counted. 'Bring them over here. It's time we press the attack.'

Lancer laughed as he turned to face the others. Ilya placed her hands on her hips as she looked at the blue haired man. She had a mock pout on her face as she turned away from where she had been reinforcing a knife for one of the yakuza. "What's the joke?"

"I'm going to be working with an asshole sooner than I expected, I guess." Lancer replied with a grin.

"You going to need some lube?" Ilya joked, causing Lancer to smirk.

"There's no time to be talking about things like that. Lancer-san, you're going to need to take your bulge somewhere else." Taiga approached with the yakuza. Her carefree tone made it hard to tell if she was serious or not.

But Lancer wasn't about to let it stand, anyway.

"It's _Bolg_." Lancer's eyebrow twitched. Small mercies existed for Lancer, though. The Grail had seemingly gone silent on him a while ago. The damned 'helpful' whispers had been a small, but noticeable, reason he had switched to fighting with sling. His cursed spear seemed to oddly resonate with the Grail. "Besides, I want to get back to Master. She's found the remaining Masters."

"Good." Caster spoke up as she and Kuzuki brought up the rear. The man gave Lancer a small nod of acknowledgment. "How far away are they?"

Lancer glanced around their surroundings. His eyes narrowed as he glanced to the northeast. "About...two miles away." The blue haired man turned towards the witch. "Why? Do you have something that can get us over quicker?"

"Better." Caster replied. She quickly spoke in a stream of high speed words before anyone could question her. The power began to flow through their surroundings as the Witch gathered the stray scraps of divine power in the air to fuel the spell.

The air warped around them.

"No way!" Ilya's eyes widened as she glanced around. Lancer tensed as he felt Caster's spell take hold. The world around them gained tones of grayish brown color. "How can you speak an aria that long?" The entire world around them shifted to look like a heavily wooded area instead of the grassy hill they had been standing on.

Caster merely smiled in response as she concluded, "_Trofa!_"

* * *

Their gray surroundings flashed out of existence as a vibrant and colorful version of the same woods loomed around them. Several yakuza tumbled to their knees at the suddenly transition. Their retching drew the attention of Bazette, a pair of dark haired teenager girls, and a purple haired teenage girl.

They were facing the distance, where several flashes of lights appeared followed by explosions. Lancer visibly perked at seeing them. "I'm going!" He quickly threw over his shoulder towards Bazette. "Tell me what happens through the connection!"

"Archer is out there! He's wearing a black suit and has white hair!" Bazette called. The spearsman raised Gae Bolg in acknowledgment as he ran away to join the fray. The blue haired Servant rushed off past the three bemused females standing near his Master.

"Excitable, isn't he?" Rin spoke. She turned towards Bazette - only to squawk in shock. Not only had Lancer appeared, but he had brought an entire crowd with him? "Huh. How'd you all arrive so... quickly?"

Both Tohsaka siblings suddenly started in shock as their eyes rested on an equally stunned pair of Emiya women. It wasn't quite sure which of the four spoke the word, but it resounded in the air with great force.

"YOU!"

Sakura and Rin went down to the ground. All the air in their lungs were knocked completely out of them as they collapsed to the ground. Both mother and daughter joyfully squeezed their respective Tohsaka sibling.

"You're alive! Why didn't you call us! Don't you know how worried we've been?"

Caster's lips pouted out of her hood just a little bit. She had almost thought the twin tailed girl would start acting up at seeing her grand entrance. She certainly had enough Odic energy around her to signify being a mage.

'Plus that hair style.' Caster snorted in the back of her mind. 'What a classical tsundere. Sad to see no one ever improved on the classics we made.'

The Witch's gaze moved over towards the Gorgon in white.

"What's this about going into a deathmatch without inviting ME-hey, Sakura, that's a really nice shade your hair has now!"

Saver simultaneously sighed. Would've felt good having someone sitting on top of her stomach and hugging her too, probably. She glanced away from where her master was being enthusiastically mauled by both Taiga and Ilya. When they weren't mauling Rin.

The Gorgon leisurely glanced up to the Witch in blue.

Lightning seemingly snapped across the clearing at once. The tiny hairs in the back of both Medusa and Caster's neck rose as they both tensed.

'This...who is this person?' Both thought as one. Something about the person on the other side of the clearing... was distasteful. They couldn't maintain their gazes for even a few more moments before they both focused on the only target available.

"I'm...going to go...that way. Yeah." Bazette uneasily glanced at faintly expectant looks on both of their faces. "Let everyone know what's going on when you get back up, Tohsaka!" She turned and ran back to go join Lancer and Archer.

"A-**hem**." Kuzuki cleared his throat. It was in such a tone that every disappointed teacher uses just as they begin to scold you. Both Ilya and Taiga reacted like scalded cats to that sound as they leapt off the dazed Tohsaka sisters.

Everyone gazed at the stone faced teacher as they finished composing themselves. He simply adjusted his glasses slightly and began to walk in the direction that Bazette had headed.

"Let's mosey."

* * *

The dark woods gave way to the city in a blur of orange and red as the Einzbern retrieval group returned to Fuyuki. The buildings flew by as prana surged through the human's legs. Powerful leaps and swift bursts of speed carried them up to the rooftops as they fell behind Herakles and Saber, both of which had taken up flanking positions a little bit ahead of them.

Shirou shifted his hold over Ilyasviel, who shrieked happily and clung onto him as the two went sailing through the air. He briefly glanced over at her happy face as the two of them skidded down onto a rooftop, sending gravel around Shirou's landing point.

Kiritsugu and Caren moved ahead after Saber and Herakles as he took a moment to regain his breath before leaping after them. The girl clinging onto his side and practically sitting in the crook of his right arm peered at him.

"What's wrong, Shirou?" Ilyasviel wondered as the two slowly fell behind.

The redhead breathed out. "I guess I'm still too new at this. Or they're monsters. I've kept up with them all night, but I can't keep my reinforcement going..." He trailed off as Ilyasviel raised a hand and placed it on his feverish head.

Her eyes widened in shock. "...you're doing it wrong!" Ilyasviel's modest tone broke down as she blurted her words out. It was enough to cause Shirou to stumble in mid-jump. The two of them plummeted down to the streets below.

"Master!" Saber's voice shouted from the side as a silver and blue figure plummeted down next to him and Ilyasviel. She wrapped her arms around Shirou and Ilyasviel before all three landed. Prana surged around Saber like a cloak, alighting her green eyes from within as her armored boots came down onto the street with a monstrous crash.

Cement went flying everywhere as the ground gave underneath the blonde's steady legs. Saber's gaze briefly glanced at Shirou in concern before turning to look around their surroundings. Only Ilyasviel and Shirou's coughing made noise on the silent streets as the dust dragged up from the earth dissipated.

Kiritsugu, Caren, and Berserker appeared high on the roof above. Saber carefully set Shirou and Ilyasviel down onto their feet. Shirou shook his head as he tried to get a short break. The young Einzbern however turned and pointed angrily up at Kiritsugu.

"Are you alright, Master?" Saber asked in concern.

"It's fine. It'll pass. I just need a moment to recover." Shirou replied quietly.

"What have all of you been teaching him?" Ilyasviel snapped. She looked over at the faintly pale looking Shirou and then up at her father. "He's been running off his own odic reserves all night! Didn't you teach him how to channel anything else?"

Caren balked and glanced at Shirou in surprise. "Is that why you wanted to hang back at the castle and let Saber and Emiya-san take the lead?" The nun wondered. The redhead sheepishly nodded. He rather would have charged in alongside the others.

Kiritsugu reached for his face and rubbed at his forehead. "I...forgot to show him anything further because of the disaster." He admitted. Herakles glanced at the older man in surprise. Still, it made sense that things had piled up.

"Ah...it's nothing. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it." Shirou replied.

Saber lightly frowned, stuck somewhere between chastising her Master or being impressed with his tolerance.

Ilyasviel stamped her foot. "You're a terrible teacher! I'm surprised he hasn't dropped dead! He probably would have if he wasn't as efficient with those circuits!" Her angry face turned gentle as she turned towards Shirou. "Shirou, the prana you've been forming up until now has all been internal. Odic power. If you let me, I can show you how to channel the mana in the air too. It'll restore your reserves and let you keep up."

"Uhm. Sure, I don't mind one bit." Shirou replied with a blink. "What do we do?"

Ilyasviel faintly grinned. She summoned several strings of prana that wiggled from her fingers. "You just have to let me go into you~" She laughed at the look of horror on Shirou and Saber's faces. "I'll just put the knowledge in your head."

"E-er..." Shirou took a step back.

"Hee...I'll just connect our circuits briefly. It's a basic application of an Eltnam technique that my family learned a hundred years ago from some fellow alchemists." Ilyasviel assured. The coy look in her face didn't help assure Shirou at all, though.

"Would that be wise?" Saber immediately spoke up. She didn't favor such invasive techniques at all. "Can't you just tell him?" She suspiciously wondered as Ilyasviel shifted and bounced up and down in place.

Ilyasviel idly glanced over at Saber. She gave the blonde a cheerful look. "It needs experience. We can't afford to wait since we're in the middle of a War. Besides, Shirou doesn't strike me as a naughty boy. I don't have to worry about seeing anything bad in his memories when we connect."

"Wait, you'll see my memories?" Shirou yelped. Ilyasviel gave him a shady looking grin.

"You'll see mine too. That's how you'll learn how to channel mana." The Einzbern lady replied delicately. She happily clapped. "But that's fine. Sir Urobuchi is a kind person, after all."

"Uhm, but..." Shirou babbled. There were certain **things **that probably wouldn't be good for her to see in his head. "I'm kind of a weirdo, you know."

Saber sighed.

Ilyasviel laughed. "Well, weird might be interesting to me. Besides, it would mean a lot to me if I can do this much to aid you."

Herakles remained silent as he merely gaze Shirou an inquisitive gaze before slowly nodding.

"I suggest you do it." Kiritsugu spoke up. Shirou glanced up at him in betrayal. The man breezily continued. "She's right. The undead that are being fielded drain odic energy. You'll need to use mana to restore your reserves when we get into the midst of things."

"C-caren!" Shirou turned towards his last hope.

Caren faintly smirked. She savored the expression as Shirou realized he had come barking up the wrong tree. "Well, it isn't like it's a tantric restoration, right?" She innocently replied. Shirou and Ilyasviel both went red. "The Lord will forgive you this time for shuffling through the innocent dreams and thoughts of a little girl with your greasy, sweaty little hands...pervert."

Shirou slouched slightly in place. Well, so much for getting support from that angle. "Fine, let's do this." He felt an encouraging hand on his shoulder. The redhead glanced up to see Saber gazing at his face.

"...it's fine. In my day it wasn't seen that badly." Saber offered him a bit of encouragement.

Herakles soundlessly descended and landed quietly on his feet next to Ilyasviel. Only a bit of dust was kicked up by his descent as he placed his hands to support his Master's body.

"Alright! _Ether Synch_, go!" Ilyasviel merrily shouted behind Shirou as her strings fired off and slid through his shirt to connect into several different points on his spine and another at the base of his neck. The strings of prana shimmered before shifting hues to a pristine silver as she connected the two of them.

Shirou's body slumped into Saber's awaiting arms as both Masters jerked together. Their visions of the outside world broke into static before the empty streets of Fuyuki City faded away.

* * *

The cramped chamber Shirou found himself waking up in was clean despite its size. He sat up in a western bed. Only a bookcase, a fireplace, and a small desk and chair were in the room with the bed. The northwestern corner of the room had a massive iron door.

The door was sturdy, but it had a small slot towards the middle of the door for things to be slid into the room. He calmly moved off the bed and immediately winced as he pulled his feet back from the cold stone floor. Shirou flexed his toes in mid-air to get feeling back in them as he gazed at the fireplace from where he stood.

Fortunately he had placed some pieces of wood in the fireplace last night. He reached over and snapped his fingers to unleash a burst of prana. The wood snapped and crackled as it came alight.

Well, back to another day o-

...!

Shirou found himself opening the door to the production line. Walls of bronze piping undulated along the stone walls of the room like arteries as the rush of liquid dully roared into his ears. Massive devices powered by Tesla coils towered around him as he walked past several blank faced homunculi.

A faint trace of pity went through him as he offered a few of the ones that he had known a long while. These had faint little markings or trinkets on their flowing dresses and bodices that he had given them in the years they had worked together.

A few responded with faint quirks of their lips or a lightening of those empty gazes for a split second.

Shirou prepared himself for the next part of his journey. Two oak doors were easily pushed open by him as he stepped into the next part of the lab.

Rotten, Half formed, or fully formed bodies floated within several rows of crystal tubes. A mild sense of disgust hit Shirou as his eyes glanced away from the failures. He made his way across the grated floor in this part of the room.

A shiver went up his spine as the flowing clothing robes he wore couldn't fight back the chill rising from the grates below his feet as he noisily walked onwards. Off to the side, he could see a pair of homunculi stonily adjust some knobs on the base of one of the tubes containing a rotten failure.

Metallic banging and rattling could be heard as the liquid and body were swiftly sucked downwards. He faintly heard a splash far below the grate. Such was the life of a homunc-

...!

An elderly man's face gazed down at Shirou. Gaunt cheekbones and a thick gray goatee drooped off his chin. A surgical cap held his balding head from the thick lights high above. The ceiling high above his head had a large sphere with a spiked tip aimed down at his torso. He could barely see a gleaming tray of sharp edged tools off to the side.

"Ilyasviel, focus." The giant commanded. Shirou glanced back at him. Sharp blue eyes narrowed as he focused on the man's face. Nervous energy fluttered about his stomach as the hum of electricity could be felt through the metal table she was on.

"Yes." Shirou responded. The man's harsh looking blue eyes softened a little. Deep wrinkles around his eyes smoothed out as he reached up with a bloody glove to pat him on the cheek. Contentment settled down in his heart.

"Good. We're almost done." He leaned back towards the tools and picked up a syringe full of a faintly glowing liquid. "You did very good today, Ilyasviel."

"...when will I see Daddy?" Shirou eagerly wondered.

A shadow grew over the elderly man's face. His blue eyes flashed and his lips drew over his teeth as he scowled. Shirou pushed back as far as the restraints on his limbs could as he smashed aside the tray. The man turned towards him with a foul look...

Then the room shook as a loud roar went off in the distance. The elderly man's face went pale as he snapped his gaze behind her. "It's you! What are you doing he-!"

Everything went gray.

Shirou found the world going back to its normal colors as he found himself warmly snuggled into his large and fluffy bed. His two attending homunculi, Agna and Gisa, were standing at attention by his side.

He was back in his room. Soft carpeting and his toys were scattered about.

"Wha...?" He tried to sit, but was gently held down by Agna's strong grip.

"Mistress, you've finally come to." Gisa calmly observed. "We had assumed the worst when you were caught in that attack."

Agna helped him slowly sit up. Shirou draped his arms around his stoic guardian. That's when he noticed the discoloration of his arms.

"What...happened to me?" Shirou looked at the two maids.

Both of them glanced at each other for a long moment. A flash of light surged into both of their eyes as their expression briefly looked troubled. "...you were attacked in mid-processing." Gisa breathed out. Her teeth clenched together.

"Your father...took your backup body, thinking it was you." Agna glanced away as she continued. "The explosion caused your circuits to get damaged. It stressed your body enough that your pigmentation changed."

"B-but...it can be fixed, right?" Shirou looked at his dark skin. Skin that was different from Gisa and Agna's own. "Just like they were fixing my body so I'd be like more like the rest of you, right?" He desperately asked.

"...I'm sorry, Mistress." Shirou's body softly trembled.

"But...I was...right there." The words came tumbling out of his lips.

"~̸̴̨!̷̸͠͝#̡҉҉͏$̵̸̨T҉ **traitor**҉̛͠_̸͏̡%̡́^̛̀͡͡͏j҉̶́̕é͞" A white haze descended on Shirou as only part of the two homunculus' following explanations filtered into his mind.

...!̨̛̕

A sea of darkness with harsh slashes of crimson spread out as far as the eye could see. Shirou's feelings, which had been muffled up to this point, surged back to life as profound hatred stabbed him in the heart. The ocean, reacting to that fear, swept upwards in a massive tsunami as it attempted to come crashing down on him.

A sphere of golden light swept in front of Shirou. It swallowed the redhead whole as the ocean came hammering down. Shirou gagged as he collapsed on his hands and knees within the sphere. The sound of multiple objects beating on the outside of the sphere were ignored as the redhead tried to catch his breath.

**Who are you? **The walls sang around Shirou.

"I'm...Shirou Urobuchi." The teenager looked up. His gaze was immediately repelled away from a shining core of silver and flecks of gold that hovered in the center of the sphere he was trapped within. Shirou clutched at his eyes as a pulsing ache stabbed deep into his brain.

**You're alive.** The bronze circuitry and swirling patterns around the golden sphere's walls pulsed. **How can you even exist down in the depths of the Grail? **The tone of the female speaking to him was straight to the point.

Shirou's vision wavered as he glanced out towards the endless sea. A pitch black tower with a silver capping on top was the only thing out there that kept his mind from collapsing in on itself. "I'm not sure!" He desperately tried to focus on the tower as he spoke. "I was learning how to channel mana from Lady Einzbern..."

**One of my later models.** The walls rippled as she breathed out. Was this boy's origin that malleable? Justica and her later models had almost shared nothing in common. There should only have been the faintest trail connecting them in the World's eyes. **Tell them that Zouken is attempting to merge his magic circuits into the Grand Holy Grail.**

"What?" Shirou turned and winced at seeing the sphere flash before his eyes.

**He's activating one of the earliest versions of the Holy Grail War system. We had intended on originally bonding Servant into Master to better control the spirits, but we gave up that plan because it wasn't feasible for our needs.**

"So...he's trying to take a Servant's power?" Shirou thought about the power he had seen Saber unleash on the bridge against Rider. He furiously shook his head. "That...that's going to make him unstoppable if he can do this familiar thing on top of it!"

**I … don't know what happened to Makiri, but he's lived far beyond his time. **

"What do you mean?" Shirou blinked.

**Human souls become twisted and rotten things if they cling onto life for too long. Please...help him.**

Shirou's eyes narrowed. "But he caused all this mess in the first place! We can't just let him go with a slap on the wrist!"

**I know. I won't ask you to do that. He's in so much pain, though. **The female voice around him murmured. **He was not meant for eternity. It is time for him to rest.**

"...alright. I can do that." Shirou awkwardly replied.

**Thank you...and good luck.**

Everything went white as Shirou's soul was expelled from the Grand Holy Grail as the connection was terminated.

* * *

Seven year old Ilyasviel felt silent tears streaming down her eyes, blurring her vision of the heavily distorted living room of her home. Both she and her father silently stood as her mother started walking away towards a bright yellow taxi.

Ilyasviel's mother glanced back, but only her shadowed sherry eyes appeared as a heavy distortion blurred the rest of her features. She raised her arm towards the two of them, and then simply let it fall to her side.

No sobs escaped Ilyasviel's throat as she saw her mother get into the taxi cab and leave. She clutched at the large and warm hand of her father.

"Papa...why is Mama going away?" Ilyasviel's voice hitched despite her best attempts at composing herself. She couldn't afford to make daddy worry.

"It's...complicated." Her father knelt down by her side. He wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her into his chest. "But don't worry. We'll see her again someday."

Ṫ̞͙̩͇̹̗ͯ͑ͭͮͣh̝̝̜̼̦̫̗͚̏̈ͧͩ̇ͯ͞ã̢̯̖̻̱̮͂ͤͭ̄͋̎ͣt̩̫͇̣̋̒ͫ͟͝ ̼̟̻̜̹ͥ́ͦ͞d̶̐͂̓ͮ͑ͤͮͦ͏͚̖̻ay never cam̳̫̮̰̮̥̓͛͗ͬ͢ͅe̱̲͉̹͓ͯ̂ͮ.̬͍̏͌͑ͤ̑̄́͛͠

...!

The pitch black picture frame around the heavily distorted image of Ilyasviel's mother didn't suit her at all. The eight year old calmly stood behind her towering father as he presented a wreath of flowers to the side as they both stepped back.

Two sets of coffins were lingering side by side over a hole in the earth.

"I apologize for your loss." The priest gaze Ilyasviel and her father a sincerely _false-_comforting half smile.

"Not as bad of a loss as for the Inui family, Father Kirei." Ilyasviel's father replied. Ilyasviel was staring at the priest's face as he turned that comfo-_false _smile onto her.

They moved to pull away. Ilyasviel was relieved to see the dancing sparks around the priest begin to fade away as they put further space between themselves and Father Kirei. "But thank you very much." Her father threw the comment over his shoulder.

"Your mother always did connect more to her western heritage." Papa softly spoke to Ilyasviel as they both moved under the shade of a massive tree to escape the heat. Several people dressed in black crowded closely around the hole in the ground.

Ilyasviel spotted two heads of bright red hair amongst the crowd closest to her mother's final resting place. An adult left the crowd as a baby's wails grew too loud for the comfort of the mourners. That wasn't nice of them. That spiky haired priest didn't seem to be too bothered.

He even seemed to like the baby.

Ilyasviel's eyebrows knit together as she looked up at the sky. Large swathes of the sky-blue vista were missing all together. Inky voids dripped thick clumps of darkness down into the world from above. "Papa...why did mama go away?" She asked once again.

"It's w̟̥͙̗̖̻͎ͤ̉̽as complicat͓̝̬͉̗͈̦͙͎ͣ͆̿̂̂ͯ̂̀̈́ͫ́̀̚͞͝ͅͅe̿ͧ̽͗̎ͩ̏̌͏̷҉̹̻̜͔̣͍͖͇d̍́̆ͯͬ̂̓̿͛̂̊ͪͨ̀́͠҉͇̪̭̜̩̘̮̀ͅ." Ilyasviel winced and slapped her hands over her ears. Her father's words screeched and scratched at the inside of her ears for a few moments before the painful sensations faded away.

Yet the memory of the pain stayed. Ilyasviel angrily tugged on her father's hand. He looked down at her.

"Greed." Ilyasviel softly accused with large eyes. Her father looked at her for a moment in confusion. "You said greed. It hurt, Papa."

Her accusation caused her father to go pale as he looked away.

...!

A wide grassy field stretched out before her eyes. The sun began to sink back into the skies in the distance. Its golden radiance stretched out as far as the eye could see, causing the massive vault bars at the end of the outlined path in front of her to cast a long shadow.

"You can do it, Shirou-kun!" A silver haired girl with twinkling red eyes shouted out towards him. Ilyasviel felt the various pains and sores throughout her body twinged at the memories of having failed the jump and crashed into the bar.

A few children and two adults murmured amongst themselves. One of them stepped forwards to try and stop her, but her father was there. He shook his head and quietly told the other adult something. With a reluctant look to their face, they pulled back with the crowd.

"Go ahead, Shirou!" Ilyasviel's father called out.

Ilyasviel didn't care what everyone said. They could call her a freak all they wanted. She knew she wasn't a freak. The spots and weird stuff around her had gone mostly away with time. It didn't matter what age she was. She was going to vault over that jumping bar. No one said what she could or couldn't do!

She took a running start. As she passed by her silver haired childhood friend. The scent of snow and salt briefly assaulted her nostrils. It was still strong despite her best efforts. Still, if it hadn't been strong she wouldn't of ever found her.

Father came next. Ink and an even stronger scent of salt hung onto him as time went on. The salt made him sleepy. It made him want to stay indoors. She was surprised he had come to see her try to jump. Tingly needles stabbed her throat as she felt the bar loom even higher above her.

Ilyasviel narrowed her eyes as she put on an extra burst of speed. She wasn't going to be stopped when the bigger kids could make this jump. She just had to think she could make it! She couldn't afford to drop out of it now.

'Think big! Think strong! Think...' Ilyasviel reached the very end of the line. Her legs bunched beneath her as her muscles tensed.

"JUMP!" Ilyasviel roared as she tore herself away from the ground with a leap with all her heart behind it. Pain greater than anything she had ever known ripped through her lower back and especially in her legs. Enough heat for Ilyasviel to cry out in pain roared through her legs as she soared over the bar and came crashing down on her side on the unforgiving ground.

"Shirou!" With that...the salt was swept away from her father and the silver haired girl as they rushed up to her. Several more adults and other kids started to swarm her too. Her eyes dazedly glanced around the open field.

Meeting a pair of blank amethyst eyes and a set of inquisitive turquoise eyes...

'They're so sad...'

...!

Ilyasviel's vast knowledge of magecraft and the history of the Einzbern begin flooding her mind as she returns to herself. The knowledge of the outside world and of Shirou Urobuchi begin to fade, though. Only a few tattered scraps of knowledge continue to remain with the homunculus.

It was a bad deal, in her opinion.

A vast ocean of stars and an endless path of white light stretch outwards before her gaze. A crushing pressure almost shatters her soul right there, but a gleaming white sword slashes outwards in front of her gaze.

It reflects a weary looking white haired man with sherry eyes in the depths of the beautiful crystal.

**Ilyasviel von Einzbern of World 2, Variant -** The crystals loudly sing and screech as the white sword shimmers. The starry void around her peripheral vision are blocked as all the colors in the rainbow sparkle from within the sword. **You wound up diving too far. I'll send you back.**

"Wait! Who are you?" The man's sherry eyes brighten at her question. The lights around her grew brighter.

**I have a sister in this world. Her name is Miyu. Please treat her well.** He quirked his head in thought. **Maybe the two of you can find happiness together.**The crystal sword moved closer and lightly tapped her in the head.

* * *

Ilyasviel gasped and sat up. She blearily looked around to see they were back on the rooftops now. Over at the side, she could see Shirou coughing as he was seated upwards by Saber. The blonde had a light grip on his arm as she let the redhead lean up against her for a few moments.

'Happiness...?' She rolled the idea around in the back of her head. Herakles comfortingly rubbed at her back, causing her tense muscles to relax as the prana strings connecting them together was dissolved. Ilyasviel turned to look over at Shirou and ask him what she had seen at the end, but was interrupted by the sound of thunder blasting closely.

"Incoming!" Kiritsugu's voice caused both Servants to wrap their arms around their Masters. Both set of their eyes glanced over towards the direction Kiritsugu was facing. Ilyasviel looked over in that direction as well. A monstrously huge chariot being guided by a set of jet black bulls tore down the streets of Fuyuki City towards them.

Lightning and thunder coursed from the hooves of the two beasts to the chariot itself. The only part of the entire vehicle that actually touched the earth were the chariot's two humongous wheels, which were in the process of tearing up the ground, and the gleaming weaponry on the sides, which slashed through whatever were on the sides of the chariot like they were made out of paper.

Iskander crossed his arms before him. With the harness in his hand, he allowed the drumming beats of his two Divine Bulls' rapid pace to hammer across the skies. He eyes shone with purpose as he looked towards the direction the last signal was fired off.

"...Iskander?" Saber's quiet cry of shock caused Shirou to look up at his Servant. Her hands tightened a bit on his shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Shirou instinctively placed his hand over Saber's own. Both paused and looked away from the newcomer to share an awkward glance before the redhead released his hold on Saber's hand.

"That's..." Saber attempted to speak. She tried to ignore the tingling sensation on her cheeks.

"How did he come back? I didn't think Waver would ever give up the artifact to summon him to anyone else." Kiritsugu was bemused as he walked up to the edge of the roof. He pulled out a set of binocular and glanced down. He was faintly amused, but mainly shocked, as a young black haired girl no older looking than Ilyasviel was riding in front of the chariot. Iskander's towering frame nearly eclipsed her completely.

Miyu set down her own binoculars and glanced up over her shoulder at Iskander. "Iskander-sama! There's another set of people up on the rooftop. They look really eager when they saw us!" She dutifully spoke up. A scout reported everything she saw.

Iskander gave Miyu a proud grin. He reached down and ruffled her hair with his large hand before looking up and over at the crowd gathered on the rooftops. "Perhaps they know of our exploits this night. Let's go up and render aid if they need it, Master!" The king reigned in the two Divine Bulls, slowing down their pace as they drew even with the building.

Miyu bent down to gather the large book from her brother's house. Once she had it in hand, Iskander gathered her in his arms and leapt for the building's rooftop in one massive bound. Gordius Wheel vanished below them without a trace as Iskander banished it.

The riders came smashing down on top of the rooftop. Iskander gave the tense looking man and blonde woman a reassuring grin before his eyes locked onto the bronze giant's face with a hint of curiosity in his eyes. Miyu happily confirmed that the six people in the group were unharmed before she cleared her throat and did her part.

"Salutations! My name is Miyu Inui and I would like to introduce you all to the King of Conquerors and Hero of the Japan, Iskander!" The black haired girl's eyes shone happily. She had finally figured that Imperium must merely mean Empire. Silly book was out of date, though. They weren't an Empire anymore. "Do you require any aid?"

Saber and Ilyasviel took a deep breath instinctively out of surprise with the situation. Kiritsugu warily glanced at Iskander and then at Herakles to try and match them up in his head. Herakles merely locked his gaze with Iskander with as much curiosity as the other man had on his face.

Shirou and Caren exchanged glances. He shrugged, feeling out of his depth. The nun nodded and walked up to the two newcomers, "My name is Caren Ortensia. The Holy Grail War was canceled. We're all going to stop the person who caused this disaster."

Both Miyu and Iskander glanced at each other and then over at Caren. Both looked visibly confused. "What's a Holy Grail War?" Miyu wondered naively.

"Is that why I was called to Master's side?" Iskander wondered as he broke the intense looks he and Herakles were directing at each other. He looked over at the white haired nun.

"What?" Caren blinked and shook her head. "Didn't the Grail inform you what was going on when you were summoned?"

"No. I was barely summoned a few hours ago. I saw my Master was in danger and reacted." Iskander replied. Miyu meanwhile was looking at the group. She gave a friendly smile to try and calm the blonde girl. The dark skinned girl staring at her was a bit odd, but she gave her a wave and nod.

"Can you please come with us, then?" Caren pressed both of her hands together pleadingly. "You must have seen the effects the Dead have had so far. It's best we unite to stamp out our common enemy before more harm is done."

The adult sort of creeped her out. She shied away a bit into Iskander's arms when she saw his cool, calculating eyes. The bronze man seemed more friendly, but boy was he huge. She didn't think it was possible for someone to be taller than Iskander!

Iskander firmly nodded, "Of course! It's best to unite as one concentrated front so we can crush our enemy."

Two pairs of sherry eyes locked on each other as Caren grinned. "Great! Then let me introduce my assistant, Shirou Urobuchi..."

'Shirou!' Miyu's eyes widened in happiness as she scrambled out of Iskander's arms. Everyone jerked in surprise as Miyu scrambled to her feet after landing on the ground and made an all out dash towards Shirou.

Saber went tense, but her instincts told her the girl didn't mean any harm.

"Since when have I -hnngh?" Shirou let out a wheeze as the black haired girl smashed into his torso and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"Oniichan!" Miyu wailed happily as she buried her face in his stomach.

* * *

"You're not Archer." Lancer's accusation slid off Archer's back as one of the clawed females charging him was perforated and collapsed. "Who are you?"

Archer fired off both of his knives to the sides of his enemy. The rushing behemoth of flesh ignored the two knives stabbing into the dirt on his left and right sides until the white haired man snapped his fingers. A pillar of light briefly surged upwards and shattered the beast into its composite parts.

"Okay, so I'm not Archer. Who would I be, then? Servant Liar?" The hero wondered as he yanked his arms back. Prana strings attached to the knives' hilts flashed into existence before they spun back and he caught them in mid-air.

"I'm not sure, but you sure have the mouth like Archer." Lancer swung Gae Bolg to bowl over two shambling zombies and leapt backwards from the clouds of insects spewing out of their mouths. He landed next to Archer. "Dam-"

Both held their right arms towards the cloud rushing towards them and carved glowing runes in mid-air. "_Ansuz!_" They both shouted as the air within the midst of the group erupted in flames. Gaunt and hungry looking faces gazed out at the two heroes from a semi-circle as they slowly backed towards each others back.

"So, do you think I can be Servant Archer at least until we clear these guys out?" The white haired man insisted as they were rushed. Their prana levels rapidly dipped as both heroes dipped and swayed out of the way of attacks. With their backs pressed up against each other, the two would occasionally push the other towards the attackers, but gleaming knives or a crimson spear would take care of whatever they got introduced to.

"I don't want to use my Silver Tongue, Rank B, on these guys." Archer mocked the statistics both of them occasionally saw when they closed their eyes. "My ability to bullshit will not make them stop. No matter what the little brown windows say!"

Both heroes spun as a particularly fresh looking corpse of a woman charged at them. "Well, maybe on her if she had been less...well, dead." Archer's words caused Lancer to laugh as both heroes lashed out with their legs and sent her flying backwards.

"Alright, maybe you're not as bad as I thought." Lancer rapidly spun his spear to disperse a thick stream of gel shot at them. The tiny splotches of it ate through parts of his bodysuit and burned where it touched his skin.

"Great to see I have your permission to be Archer, then." Archer dryly replied as he brought both knives together hilt first. In a flash of light they fused into a solid piece of metal. A nimbus of colors surrounded the weapon as it lengthened and shift in his grasp.

The silver of the weapon dyed itself to a deep brown as it took a crescent shape with flared out tips. The transformation of the two swords to an ancient wooden bow completed itself as the tips of the bow connected with a pure white string. Archer grasped the weapon at the center, letting the weapon settle into the grooves of his hand gracefully.

"Switch! Take down some crows at three o'clock!" Silver energy gathered at Archer's right hand as the history of the weapon guided his motions.

"Right!" Both Servants twisted in place. Lancer's incredible speed allowed him to switch to his slingshot and drew a bead on the stones while Archer swiftly knocked a gleaming silver arrow made of swirling and twisting light.

Two aerial familiars went down as Lancer shot them down with two stones. Archer knocked back the string, drawing the bow back into a tense V-shape before unleashed the arrow with a shout as he activated the Noble Phantasm.

"_Hou I_!" In the brief moment that the bow went from resembling a diving hawk to a gliding hawk, several dark images of fallen creatures appeared along the wood's surface. The bow let out a resounding shriek as he unleashed the arrow intended to slaughter enemies of mankind.

The stream of sludge that was burning through his outfit and his flesh dissolved instantly as a silver stream of light flashed across the clearing. The foul corruption that the corpse was launching at him was nothing before the arrow as it slammed home. The undead shrieked as the tip of the silver light smashed into its head and promptly engulfed it in a burst of flame.

One of the images of the creatures on the body of the weapon exploded, staining the brown wood around it red.

The entire front half of Archer's suit was in ruins. He gasped in slight pain at the raw nerves exposed on his chest as he and Lancer swapped places instinctively again. Archer could hear Lancer mocking the crowd around them as he tried to focus on the prana from the remains of his jacket.

"You alright?" Lancer called back. He slung and fired five more stones to messily end more undead. "Don't you die on me just because of such a weak attack!"

"I'm fine!" Archer insisted. His chest was a deep red from the exposure from the sludge, and he ignored the blood trickling down his bare chest as he shifted the prana from his jacket around. The coat on his shoulders vanished as his vest and white shirt reformed.

He raised the hawk like bow at the ready, ignoring the blood sliding down his front as he knocked another silver arrow back.

"Great! Try and keep up, boyo!"

* * *

"Hahah. Die, worms! Die!" Caster cackled as she directed waves of fire, ice, and wind to annihilate anything in her path with one arm. The other one was busy wrapped around Sakura's hips and not so subtly feeling her up.

Sakura wasn't very sure what to think about the current situation.

Rin and Saver weren't pleased in the least, though.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rin shouted as she looked away from where she lobbed an emerald to shred through a cloud of insects that had been attempting to dive bomb them.

Kuzuki briefly glanced back at the proceedings before blinking and ducking a punch from a giant. He responded by hammering a strike into his neck with enough strength to rip the head clean off as he twisted to rejoin the fray.

Saver removed her hands from where laid them on a yakuza's firearm. "May you strike humanity's enemies dead in a single shot." She intoned with a gentle smile as she finished reinforcing the human's courage with her power.

"Thank you!" The woman stuttered before turning and joining the others. Saver spared a few moments to ensure that the woman's bullets were slamming into the weak points of the undead before turning with a scowl over at Caster as well.

"This girl is perfect! No wonder you have her with you! My control over my Divine Words seem sharper than ever." Caster happily responded as she gestured. Two charging behemoths were wrapped in warped space for a second before half of each of their bodies simply vanished.

Only to appear on top of a distant undead that was trying to shoot down Ilya. The silver haired girl gave Caster a thumbs up before moving out from behind cover and aiming a rifle to take down another three undead.

"Uhm...thank you?" Sakura blushed as the roving hand seemingly gained courage with that comment as Caster's slim and delicate face loomed a bit closer.

"Exnay on the lesyay!" Rin boomed as she slapped her hands together before swinging them outwards from her body. Several fireballs tore outwards from her to smash into several birds high above. "Especially with my sister...nay!"

"Is this really the time?" Bazette exasperatedly wondered.

"We're doing fine!" Caster happily replied as she glanced around the park. With her improved control, she could feel several undead that were still human enough in biology that she could remotely activate. She had a lovely woman in one hand and divine mysteries in the other.

'To think...Medea, saving the day.' The blue haired princess thought happily.

"Stop wasting so much energy! There's only one of me!" Saver shouted in annoyance as she moved closer towards the others alongside Taiga and Ilya. The magi and Servants felt the heavy pressure lift off their shoulders with her presence as the group continued charging down the path.

"Haa...they just won't stop, will they?" Taiga breathed out tiredly. The sword in her hand was slicked with blood and she awkwardly held onto a smoking pistol with the other. She tried to flick the blood off her sword, but it didn't quite take.

The sounds of rifles going off were a constant din as Rin threw her hands up in surrender and went back to the front lines with Bazette. Sakura managed to reluctantly squirm out of Caster's grasp and move behind Saver.

Caster pouted.

"Caster, can you enhance mom?" Ilya wiped away sweat from her forehead. Dirt plastered to her skin thanks to that motion, though. Caster's gaze moved away from Saver and glanced over at the dirt smeared Ilya. "I think your style might help more than Rider's spell."

'Well, I can take my petty win, then.' Caster happily nodded. She spared a triumphant smirk over at the purple haired teenager.

"Of course. Come with me, Emiya-san." Caster graciously gestured for the brown haired woman to moved away with her. Taiga gave Ilya a small thumbs up when Caster's back was turned before she followed after.

"See? Better to distract with honey." Ilya grinned at Sakura and Saver. Both of the other females merely grinned in return.

* * *

Zouken gazed angrily outwards on the field of battle through hundreds of little and large creatures. The pathetic wretches were bringing greater and greater force to bear against his familiars thanks to the maddened struggle between his worthless grandson and half of his crest worm hive.

He gestured and unleashed another swarm of his own personal familiars in clouds of insects. These would serve as a small enough distraction along with the monsters that had been shaped out of the humans that fell to the original swarm of familiars.

Meanwhile, he turned towards the massive worm he had finished assembling. Gravedigger had finally gathered the souls throughout the city that had fallen along with plenty of ambient prana from Angra Mainyu's awakening. With so much power in one spot, the air was heady and moist.

"It's perfect!" The fifty year old man stooped a bit over his cane as he activated his magic circuits. The earth beneath them pulsed. Wraiths were sucked up into the massive incubator he had created. The massive beast let out a roar as the rotten wall of flesh in front of Zouken's eyes swelled.

Zouken grinned with yellowing teeth. He ignored the decomposition on his body as his skin began to gray with his usage of his magic.

A horde of ravenous and chittering insects crafted of shadow swarmed, flew, and stalked out of the base of the two story tall monster as he saw the heroes of old press further into his army. That was fine... those were the older models anyway.

Zouken straightened his back with a wet series of pops as he turned to face the battlefield. With a mere thought, he cast his final spell to summon the Grail. Pieces of the Gravedigger behind him began to dissolve as the power of Angra Mainyu manifested. Dark spots rose from the dead earth beneath him as the temperature increased.

"**Ahahaha!**" The old man shrill laughed as he held his left arm out to the side. A section of his forearm, still maintaining thick flesh, bloodily split apart with wet tearing jerks. The old man continued to laugh as the flesh transmuted. One piece split into several ancient worms. These he had kept on his person for years now.

Once summoned, these worms crawled up towards his hand. They licked and soaking up the blood flowing down the gouged wound on his limb. More blood still flowed down to the ground.

Within moments, a large chunk of meat reformed in his hand, created when he had fed Byakuya and Kariya to his worms ages ago. The bloody chunk of meat ignited as he tossed it backwards with a negligent throw.

Gravedigger ignited with a shriek of joy as its body ignited. Zouken threw his arms wide to encompass the battlefield as he chanted the final incantation. With a sacrifice of the fat of your own flesh and blood and these words he now spoke, the Witch of Endor had tapped into the concept of Necromancy. To the point of being remembered for it for years to come in the Church's scripture.

Zouken guided the concept into the flesh of his undead creation as the power of Angra Mainyu was absorbed into the Goliath. The world around the two abominations wavered and twist as a massive tear began to form high above Gravedigger's head.

'Come before me, Witch of the Absolute! Come and grant me the immortal body of God!' Zouken drew in the prana to commence the ceremony.

* * *

Both Archer and Lancer were breathing heavily as they sat down in the midst of a bloody ring of gore. The enemies that had challenged them had been reduced to nothing more than raw meat. Yet both Heroic Spirits were sharing similar wounds as large pieces of their armor were worn away, exposing bloody flesh.

Archer trembled a bit as he leaned his head up against the hawk like bow wielded by the ancient Counter Guardian. The surface of the weapon was stained with the blood of humanity's enemies. The blood had corroded the tips of the wings, turning them gold and making the bow a heavy weight for the weakened Servant to bear.

Archer was still amazed each and every time he drew a Noble Phantasm. It was truly a humbling experience to know what heroes had to hold on their backs. "You holding up, Lancer?" The white haired man called to the man that was holding him up with his back.

"Of course." Lancer happily replied. The handicap had driven the Heroic Spirit to exhaustion, but it had been more than enough to let him show the world he could work past his boundaries as a spirit. To show them the mete of a warrior.

"**Ahaha!**" A screeching laugh echoed in the bloody field as a shrieking blast of wind tore in from the side. Fortunately for Archer's temple, Lancer had caught a peek of it from the side of his vision. His protection from arrows automatically brought Gae Bolg to bear in a burst of speed.

The air cracked as the crimson spear blocked and repelled a figure sheathed in darkness. It let out a shriek of feminine outrage as it was repelled into the gloom of the dark park, and caused both Servants to leap to their feet as another flickering shadow erupted out from behind them with another mad laugh.

Both Archer and Lancer hit the dirt in a roll as a third clipped a few blue hairs from Lancer's head off in their passage. Even as they tried to compose themselves, monstrously warped centipedes and beetles tore out from beneath the earth as grasshoppers with scythe like forearms and rail thin carapaces descended from above.

Archer brought up Hou I's crimson bow to parry the strike from the insect. The beast brought its oval head down to try and shatter his skull with the spiked top of its face. The white haired man shifted to the side as one of its multifaceted eyes glared at him with alien intelligence. It let out a hiss, but Archer refused to allow it to rip his neck out.

With a shout, he shoved the insect backwards. The creature's joints merely ...flexed beneath the Servant's strength as the grass hopper like legs swiveled with the shove as it leapt backwards and casually swung at him. Its serrated blades clashed with the Hou I's bow as the white haired man raised it to block. Sparks of light were released from the clash as Archer awkwardly attempted to line up a shot and fired straight at the beast's torso. The insect let out an angry hiss as it pivoted its other bladed limb on its wrist. The limb, now reduced to burning cinders, was slashed off by the other limb as the beast hopped back and eyed Archer warily.

The white haired man felt a rumble from below moments before he leapt away to clear out the spot he had been standing on. A large beetle with golden brown armor and three times his size let out a screech as it snapped sharp mandibles at him before charging at him.

"Maybe heroes never get a chance to consider how heavy their duties are..." Archer muttered as he readied Hou I.

* * *

Lancer saw a flash of silver light explode behind him along with a roar of fury. Well, good to see that the idiot was alive, then. He was furiously batting aside charging strikes from above, below, and his left and right sides with super fast flicks of his spear as he was forced away from Archer.

Each was individually half the size of Lancer's arm, wreathed in shadow with coiling spikes tightly wrapped around a core of madness. Or at least that's what it seemed like as playful laughter bubbled up each time he repelled a strike to a vital.

"Damn persistent, aren't you?" One of the imps madly laughed as she dove towards him. Each of the passes by these black stakes ripped more and more prana from him as they harried him back. At this rate, he'd have to start tapping into his reserves...

A wild grin crossed his sharp teeth at that.

Lancer's body flickered as the ground below his feet compressed as he pressed an opening. One of the four imps let out a shriek of pain as his demonic spear stabbed out and impaled the creature on the weapon. The shadows dispersed to show a deformed creature with a nude, malnourished frame. Its skin was yellowish with spots of greenish discoloration from his earlier blows. Its limbs were bone like in thickness and it possessed a large, bulbous head.

Parts of the creature's skull inflated and deflated visibly before Lancer's eyes as the creature he had impaled shakily lifted stick like arms and embraced the weapon with trembling fingers. A reedy laugh wheezed out of the figure as it slumped dead.

Lancer flicked his spear and sent the creature flying off the tip of his weapon.

The remaining three let out a wail of fury as they buzzed close to the spearsman as he flowed from one desperate motion to the next. Gae Bolg was a red blur around his figure as he spun and rolled out of the way of the creature's attacks.

'This is starting to get fun!' The Irish hero grinned. The hero was finally able to press back the flying creatures as he caught their measure after several minutes, but he suddenly felt an ill premonition through his connection with Bazette.

"Cover me!" Lancer shouted. Both he and Archer were being pressed back towards the rest of the group, if the sounds of the firearms and feel of prana being expended were correct. He could **feel**Bazette's life begin to fade on him.

"Alright!" Archer replied as he spun to guard Lancer's back. Three arrows were released by the hero with the same motion as the skills of Hou I were swiftly being modified for the white haired man's style.

'What did you do to get yourself into so much trouble, Master?' The blue haired man wondered, but swiftly tapped into his final ability.

"_**Disengage!**_" One of three miracles owed Lancer to him by Morrígan boomed across the heavens.

* * *

The motions of the undead around them were growing sloppy and weak. Their group seemed perfectly happy with that, though. Ilya could see the confidence begin to return to the eyes of the yakuza she was assisting. The group powered ahead as one as Ilya swiftly and efficiently put new ventilation into the few undead that still dared challenge them.

They could almost see the flashes of light and explosions of Archer and Lancer's fights now.

"Ilya!" One of the yakuza shouted. The silver haired girl spun to face the hired help. She was hurriedly trying to reload as two clawed women charged at her with shrieks. The albino breathed out and readied her rifle.

It let out a roar as one of her father's Origin Bullets flew out towards them. She simultaneously activated her magic circuits as she invoked her wishcraft abilities. A string of possibilities surged to life in front of her eyes as numbers and diagrams flooded her vision.

Ilya threw her considerable odic prana behind the most ridiculous of the patterns, of course. The bullet flared as it was filled with that potential as it soared towards its target.

The first target's skull gained a large, rapidly decaying, hole in the front of the skull. Ilya's magecraft triggered as probabilities altered in return for a healthy chunk of her energy. In return for the sacrifice, the worms' keeping her target together decided just then to try and reinforce the body in a desperate attempt to stay alive.

All this did, now that the bullet was inside the skull, was make the rest of the skull strong enough to allow the bullet to bounce around and tear up the rest of the brain. With the destruction of the brain, the worm's control faded just as the bullet bounced off the right side of the witch's skull. The bullet lanced outwards from the left side of the skull...right into the side of the second witch's skull.

In a matter of seconds, both females were down on the ground. Their brains, reduced to the consistency of pudding, pouring out of their ruined skulls.

"Thank you, ma'am!" The yakuza nodded to her, now reloaded as she rejoined the fray.

Ilya groaned as her vision briefly dimmed. She fled back from the vanguard lines as she commanded her magic circuits to hungrily devour the mana that Rider was purifying in her wake. Otherwise, she was sure that the mana would have burned her from the inside out by now.

Taiga and Rider both looked at her worriedly as Ilya merely shook her head.

"I'm fine. I just need a pick me up."

"Here, stay next to Rider. I'll move upwards next." Taiga gently pulled the silver haired teenager back to guard the purple haired Servant. "You can rest for a bit."

"I'm not a child..."

"And that just makes me want to keep you here more. Stay. Here." Taiga ran her hand along Ilya's hair gently as she walked past her. Ilya frowned back at her mother's back.

"She doesn't want you to overdo it." Rider spoke up. Her eyes looked earnestly over at Ilya's own red eyes. The bit of annoyance she was holding towards Taiga faded.

"Well, I suppose you're right." Ilya gave an overblown sigh for effect. Rider gave her a tiny grin. "So, what do you think is going to happen after we drive these things out?" Ilya glanced over at the Servant and reluctantly nodded as she moved next to her as their caravan kept pressing ahead.

'They're going down too easily.' The silver haired girl thought.

"It's not going to be that easy." Rider's words made the albino look up in surprise. The purple haired teenager had a grim smile on her face. "The evil inside these bodies is fading away. But it never just vanishes. It always goes somewhere else..."

"What do you mean?" Ilya questioned, but was answered as a monstrous beetle exploded outwards in front of her and Rider. The albino instinctively wrapped her arms around the other teenager and pulled them out of reach.

"I'll have you, Divine Spirit!" An old man's voice boomed from within the beetle as it charged at them.

Mad laughter rang out from around them as their group was swarmed from the shadows by super fast devils. Several more monstrously large insects, each warped in its own unique way, swarmed them as the undead limply collapsed onto the ground.

"I don't think so!" Bazette's voice shouted as the woman was suddenly in between them and the ten foot tall beetle. Its pincers and the woman's arms met in a titanic struggle as the gloves and sleeves of her outfit flared with runic marks.

"Go!" She called back towards Ilya and Rider. Both teenagers dashed away as Bazette was flung upwards by the beetle's pincers. The gleaming horn on its head rose to impale the maroon haired woman on the way down...

"_Trofa!_" Only to vanish as it and the upper half of the body of the creature were suddenly moved back a foot. Bazette grimaced as she was splashed with inchor, but didn't protest as she landed with a splash in between the two segments of the body.

Strangely enough, there seemed to be no organs at all, just a thick black gel that was freely pouring out of the two halves of the creature onto the ground.

Caster briefly gave the three woman a glance before spinning off to join the fighting besides Rin and Sakura, who were both flinging lances of pure white light at the larger beasts as Kuzuki and Taiga aided the yakuza with the smaller fliers.

"Whew, are you two alright?" Bazette asked Rider and Ilya. Both of them gave the woman shaky nods at how suddenly their fortune had turned around. The woman tried to offer both of them a reassuring smile as she opened her mouth.

"**...not yet.**" To get interrupted by the elderly voice again. Both halves of the beetle glowed before thick streams of darkness shot outwards to try and reconnect the two pieces of the monster.

"Aah!" Bazette yelled as they slapped together over her head. Before anyone could react, the two halves slammed back together, trapping the maroon haired woman within. The beast let out a triumphant roar as it tore after the two.

"Bazette!" Rider screamed, but Ilya was already grabbing the other teenager's hand and making an all out dash. She tried ignoring the fallen yakuza that had strange and formed looking organic looking spikes stabbed into their vitals as they flew away from the beast through the opening in their defensive ring. The trees flew past them as new menaces rose in the shadows around them.

"Why is that motherfucking bug calling you a Divine Spirit?" Ilya demanded as they vaulted over a former behemoth corpse. The beetle on their tail merely tore through it, sending rotten flesh and worms flying around.

"The god powering this night's horrors is my direct opposite." Rider quickly explained. She glanced back at the giant knocking over trees. They could faintly hear shocked cries from their friends. "I'm a Saver. He must be trying to capture me using that familiar so he doesn't have to worry about my power anymore."

"Then Bazette is still alive in there?" Ilya fairly begged.

"Yes, but not for long. That corruption is All of Humanity's Evils. We can't let her stay in there too long." The now revealed Saver explained. The beast behind them let out a roar that shook the earth. In response, shadowy spears erupted out of the ground and begin to chase them.

Both teenagers felt the pit of their stomachs drop as they glanced back. Unlike the familiar, these manifestations moved at incredible speeds, easily outpacing them as they swiftly caught up. Ilya felt Saver wrench her hand out of the albino's own. "Saver?"

The purple haired woman dove into the path of the spears. Light and darkness clashed as the woman's toga, which had remained pristine and whole all night, flared with a divine light as the clearing was set alight. A rippling wall of force formed in front of Saver as she pulled on her abilities to protect humanity.

The shadowy spears, clashing against the bright white wall, slowly wobbled to a jarring halt.

Yet the spears didn't vanish, and they slowly tore through the wall of force. Saver gagged as deep rips in her own body formed in response to the attack on her barrier. But she held firm as she remained standing in front of Ilya.

"What are you doing?" The albino demanded.

"M-my barrier...can't hold entirely..." Saver explained as her body jerked as another spear pierced through the veil she was holding upwards. "You...you're not entirely human, are you?"

Ilya felt a chill run down her spine.

"Hahah! So you're the representative of Einzbern?" The elderly man screeched joyfully. "Thank you very much for your assistance then! I'll make sure to grant you a peaceful rest once I capture this pest."

Saver glanced back at Ilya. "Run!" She was forced back a step as the beetle pressed forwards.

"But..." Ilya moved a step towards Saver, but the familiar let out a roar of triumph as several black spears tore through the barrier at once.

The purple haired woman shrieked in agony as she collapsed to her knees, causing one of the nearest spears to slice across her face.

"Saver!"

"...your origin doesn't matter to me." Saver glanced back. A large gouge ran down along her forehead and across her nose. Blood stained her cherry lips as she offered Ilya a shaky smile. "What matters to me is that you're a good person." She shakily breathed out as she looked on the verge of collapse. "Just...protect Sakura."

The beetle roared as it reared back on six needle like legs for the final push.

'Goodbye, everyone.' Saver's vision faded to black as she felt her barrier collapse.

"_**Disengage!**_" Lancer's voice boomed across the heavens.

Moments later, an inchor covered woman materialized high in the skies above the beetle. Parts of her outfit had seemingly torn completely off her body, including the three runes on her exposed arm. One of which brightly flared before vanishing completely away.

"Less talking, and more shutting the hell up!" Bazette roared as she descended like a meteor. Both of her arms slammed up against the top of the beetle's skull. She felt a few bones shatter, but in return she completely shattered the exoskeleton on the front of its head.

'It's...up to you now, kid.' Bazette thought as her vision grayed out as she slammed into the ground away from the familiar.

Ilya instinctively swung her rifle up and to bear as the familiar shrieked in pain. Its claws swung helplessly at its head, where it ruined eyes were bleeding dark fluid. Her circuits flared as she unleashed her wishcraft for an assured kill.

"The movie is over, Hannibal." Ilya fired. The bullet flared as it pierced through Saver's barrier, gaining even more luminosity as it swung upwards and pierced into the interior of the beast through the opening Bazette had opened.

The beetle let out one more cry as its exoskeleton was pierced from within by countless rays of light. It woodenly came crashing down onto the ground into several chalk gray pieces.

Ilya and Saver both shakily looked on, but both of them helplessly collapsed to the ground. Saver was rendered completely paralyzed as she struggled to refill her prana reserves from Sakura. This weakening led to her protection falling, and Ilya paid for it by been rendered unconscious as the corpse of the beast ripped the last bit of prana out of her system.

* * *

'Good, she has enough magic circuits to make this work.' Zouken marveled at the ability of the Einzbern girl's control over her sorcery trait. A massive spider, large enough to carry two adults, softly landed on the ground near the three women that had destroyed his beetle.

The beast he commanded chittered as it slowly started to wrap up both the Divine Spirit and the Einzbern girl in its cocoon. The woman was dismissed as a nonthreatening for now. She had her prana ripped away from her just as the silver haired teenager had, and wouldn't be up for a while.

"Stop right there!" Zouken immediately switched his vision to one of the remaining infected crows in the area. A brown haired woman and a black haired man in glasses were both approaching his spider familiar.

The woman clenched onto a bloody katana while the man merely raised his fists. Both were heavily wounded, but their eyes showed their clear intent to slaughter his familiar.

"Hahah...shouldn't you be with the others?" Zouken wondered. His senses showed them as mere humans. Not a single magic circuit existed within the two. "The protection granted to you by the Divine Spirit is gone. The reinforcement by the Witch is weakened with distance."

He called another familiar.

From within the shade of his fallen beetle, a segmented centipede with a jet black carapace and pincers as large as the man's torso manifested. Its body was ten foot long, and once it reared back, it showed it was as tall as a man.

The two adults tensed as they recognized this type of demon. Its speed had been enough to shatter their defensive line in the first place.

"Why are you doing this?" The woman demanded.

"Emiya...some people are just monsters." The man replied as he shifted his glasses with a single finger.

"Hoo...and who might you be to judge me?" Zouken amusedly wondered.

"Not a judgment. A simple comparison." The man replied with a light shrug. "From one monster to the next."

"Souichirou, let's finish this off. We need to get them back to safety." Emiya drew her blade in front of her.

"Haa...then let's see what you modern humans can do!" Zouken roared as he directed his familiar to charge at the two.

His centipede charged straight at them on multitude of legs. The clearing filled with the sound of its clicking limbs as both Emiya and Souichirou split apart. Emiya's sword flashed in the darkness, drawing pained hisses from the beast and splashes of corrupted blood.

The beast reared back, but Souichirou was there, and hammering vicious blows along its soft underbelly with loud cracks. The force sent the beast curling backwards back on itself as its legs desperately wiggled.

In those moments until it righted itself, both Emiya and Souichirou were blurs as they slashed and shattered several of the legs of the monster.

'Useless beast! _Assuming Direct Control!_' Zouken angrily swapped his vision from the crow above in the tree branches down into the centipede itself. For a brief moment, his vision went dark as he swapped into the beast down below.

He willed his familiar's tail to swing out at Emiya, but Souichirou was there. His hands slammed the tail out of course long enough for Emiya to rush in and cleave the barbs and that segment of the beast clear off with one swing.

"How?" The centipede body staggered away as it flashed its body around in a high speed turn to throw the two humans away.

"We're not strong!" Emiya admitted as she staggered to her feet with Souichirou's help. "But humans have been working together to take down horrors like this for years."

"...you're not taking my student." Souichirou simply replied.

"I'll kill you bo..." Zouken's statement was interrupted by the explosive destruction of his familiar. Its frame shredded apart into meaty ribbons as a small detonation went off directly in front of the magus' centipede.

"We also cheat. A lot!" Emiya sing-songed as she swing the pin for a grenade around in her empty hand.

Zouken's rage was nearly absolute as his consciousness was shoved out of his centipede familiar. Yet his hand was stayed as the battle had bought enough time to tie up both of his targets as his mind flashed over towards the spider as it loaded both teenagers onto its back.

"No you don't!" Emiya shouted as she tore off across the clearing towards Zouken.

"In death, my familiars will still strike you down!" Zouken laughed as he triggered the power of Angra Mainyu within the centipede. The half shredded body swelled up before exploding outwards. The force was enough to sent a segment of the beast's body flying straight to blindside Emiya.

Its surface gleamed as spikes erupted out of it.

"Emiya, get down!" Souichirou shot ahead with all the strength in his legs.

A loud, wet crack echoed in the night.

* * *

"Fall back! Fall back!" Masa shouted as he turned his semi-automatic rifle on the approaching hoard of slithering insects. The bullets slammed into their exoskeletons and visibly rippled, but they didn't stop. They angrily struck back.

Men and women were sent flying. The cries of the wounded rose up around them.

"Cover me! We need to provide some support so your sister doesn't die on us." Caster called out to Sakura as she began to rise into the air. The dark haired girl nodded and moved to keep an eye out and a hand full of primed magical gemstones at the ready.

'Medusa... please be alright.' Sakura thought as she started intoning the words for the binding ritual she'd need to help the witch.

Caster started her own spell at the same time as both mages began to synchronize their timing with the assistance of a minor bit of witchcraft on Caster's part to help the younger girl.

"I'm not going down yet, Caster!" Rin shouted as she gestured at the hoard charging at them. The ground beneath a massive rolling beetle brightly glowed as she used the mana in the air. The brunette knelt and slammed her fist into the earth as she combined her earth and fire traits. "_Blast Bomb!_" Two gemstones, a ruby and topaz, shattered as she tossed them into the crowd of charging familiars.

A massive dome of flame exploded from within the earth and exploded forwards in a sweeping wave of annihilation.

The massive beetle screech as it was consumed along with a wave of centipedes.

Rin leapt backwards as three speeding stakes stabbed into the ground she was kneeling at in response. More of the flying menaces rose over the barricade of flame as the remaining yakuza turned their rifles to shoot them out of the sky.

"Just like we've been doing up to now, alright?" Caster called down at Sakura.

"Understood!" The remains of the Matou crest flared beneath her arm as Caster threw the cape she wore over her robes wide open. Massive amounts of mana swirled towards the woman as she grit her teeth. Lights swirled and whorled around the interior of her cape into ritualistic patterns.

Sakura allowed her mind to sink into her past experiences. She remembered the days of having to manage to shore up her own will against an entire hoard of alien thoughts. Just a single day was maddening with having to enforce her will over them.

Caster felt her body and the outfit begin to degrade. Massive amounts of corrupted mana, generated by the detestable familiar on the opposite side of the park, poured into her like a stream of knives. 'I'll get you back for this breech in duty, Rider.' Caster swore as she gritted her teeth. 'Damn useless purifier needs to stay nearby to aid the real fighters!'

"Granting targeting over to you, Sakura!" Caster called down as she invoked a two way link. Her witchcraft and reinforcement abilities allowing her to let the dark haired teenager control the final portion of the spell.

Sakura brought to bear all the will and experience she had in managing multiple consciousnesses at the same time. She felt the control settle down on top of her once again.

"_Rain of Light!_" Caster and Sakura both concluded their simultaneous casting at the same time. The bombardment of magic descended by a combination of Caster's power and Sakura's will.

Sakura snapped her arm outwards as she guided the streaks of light.

The beams of light descended on high and began to twist and turn in on themselves as Sakura snapped her gaze to the left. The massive rays that Caster were unleashing from within the depths of her cape shattered into smaller and more maneuverable beams as they smashed into rippling walls of force which sheared the energy. From there, the beams began to race down predetermined paths swiftly set up by Sakura.

Five streaks of energy tore into a centipede, shredding it into pieces as it attempted to crush a fallen group of yakuza.

"Behind you!" Caster called down.

Sakura spun, holding her arm out towards a spike, and stopping it three inches away from her palm. The creature let out a shrill squeak as a thick beam of light incinerated the lower half of its body. The former Matou glanced away from the burning demon to see her sister charging towards the fallen yakuza.

Rin flung herself foot first into the side of a monstrous grasshopper. With her reinforced muscles she tore through the air. The beast turned towards her and raised its barbed limbs offensively. The Tohsaka heir laughed and flung her arm back behind her as she unleashed her wind aspect.

An intense gust of wind blasted outwards and added its force to Rin's flying kick. She blurred forwards faster than the insect expected as she smashed into its head. A loud snap and the beast's death rattle echoed as it went down.

Rin merely flipped backwards onto her feet. She dusted her hands off. A beetle roared as it leapt towards her, but it was swiftly torn into pieces by multiple streamers of light. "Thanks for the save, Sakura!"

Sakura faintly smiled. "You're welcome, neechan!"

Both Caster and Sakura turned back towards bombarding the charging enemy. Deadly beams of light hammered the earth around them as Rin moved towards the fallen group as she tried to recover her odic reserves from the mana of the world.

She distastefully grimaced as she felt the wrongness in the air, but she had nothing to complain about. "Here, let me check you guys out." Rin called out towards some of the yakuza that had taken a particularly hard beating. She drew out an aquamarine for healing magic.

* * *

Archer fired.

A lunging centipede was embedded with three bolts of silver light in the span of a second. It started to wail, but the white haired man was having none of it. His boot lashed out and punted it straight in its dissolving head as he sent it flying into the pile of bodies charging him and Lancer.

"Move!" Lancer shouted as they both retreated side by side. The blue haired man had swapped out his spear for the frayed looking sling he had been using all night to aid Archer as both of them fired into the crowd as they sought to rejoin the others.

'Not fast enough, though!' Lancer cursed. He had used Disengage ten minutes ago to reposition his Master to a safe location, but she hadn't answered any of his calls. The hero trusted Morrígan not to try any tricks...

But Bazette was like kin.

"I'm trying!" Archer responded. He knocked another arrow and shot it into the crowd. The bolt of light shattered into a three way shot as he wounded three of the charging demons. "I'm sorry, but turning this bow red only made my shooting speed go up three times faster, not my feet!"

"It's much too late." An old man's voice called out to the two. The familiars around Lancer and Archer rallied as they viciously tore closer to the two heroes. "What are you attempting to gain from all of this?"

A centipede shattered into multiple pieces. Each gained enough speed to turn into a wrecking ball. "Revenge?" A beetle boomed out with the voice of the older man as it stamped on the earth, causing a series of razor sharp spears to nearly skewer both Archer and Lancer.

The two men blurred as they swayed around the majority of the sharp spiked spheres from the centipede. Their were caught flat footed by the spears for a few moment. Both of them looked at each other and simultaneously carved the rune of warding.

The clearing lit up with a dazzling blast of light. The beetle was weakly twitching on its side when it was over, and the spears were gone.

A mottled green grasshopper, limbs splayed about its body in angles not found in nature, descended on Lancer with barbed claws. Gae Bolg lashed out and sent it flying backwards as eight stakes swarmed around the two as they retreated by a rushing wave of shadows.

Archer ducked past one of the stakes. It angrily hissed out, "You two are mere copies of a much greater existence. What does it matter to you what I do to this place?" The white haired man responded to that statement by lashing out and kicking one of the stakes on the side.

The bizarrely warped horrors continued encroaching on the two. "Like I said, it does not matter what you two do now. You cannot stop my tools from rending your allies limb from limb." A large section of the forces were moving past the two.

Lancer and Archer traded a glance. They set their expressions into looks of grim anticipation.

"I think you misunderstand us, Zouken." Archer called out as he leapt over a charging beetle. His fingers strummed lightly along the bowstring and six arrows of light came slamming down on top of the beast's carapace.

The blue haired spearsman roared as he spun and drove Gae Bolg deep within the body of another centipede. It wailed and started to thrash about as Lancer viciously grinned and pressed his spear deeper into its body. One of its flailing limbs lashed out and lightly cut the Irish hero along the cheek.

"Challenges like these..." Lancer reached up and rubbed the blood off his face. His bloodied fingers twitched as he invoked the Uruz rune. His body flared with power as his strength increased to the level he could match a fully divine being. "...are what Heroic Spirits live for!" He roared as he pulled back on his weapon and dragged the centipede above his head.

The beast squealed in fear and pain as Lancer began to spin and smash its barbed body into the hoard charging towards the two men.

It was time.

"_**I am the Dream of an Age**_

_**To strive without limits,**_

_**And reach beyond grasp, **_

_**Unaware of regret,**_

_**Nor caring of price,**_

_**Without restraint I have touched all that can and will Exist,**_

_**And yet...I've never really made anything.**_

_**This is my path, the only goal I can claim...**_"

Archer's voice rose over the din of the chaotic melee Lancer had introduced. His form was like a ghost as his speed swiftly increased as the bloody bow in his hand began to glow with more power. Reinforcement and his own natural speed blended as he tore through the area, shooting into unprotected backs, and pulling away before they could respond.

"...no, that can't be!" Zouken roared in fury as he recognized the twisting of the world's laws. The beasts responded to Zouken's anger by focusing their charge on Archer, but all it did was put them straight in the path of the ever twisting field of space being expanded outwards from the white haired man.

"_**Infinity Library Archives!**_"

* * *

A loud, wet smack brought Ilya's consciousness slowly back to her, but a spark of light erupting from the depths of the park heralding a pillar of kaleidoscopic light streaking upwards into the sky jarred her the rest of the way. The silver haired girl struggled, but found herself tightly wrapped up as she flopped to her side.

The girl's attention was attracted by the sight of Kuzuki's left arm simply ceasing to exist as he batted a spiked sphere of darkness away with his arm. Taiga briefly halted in horror as the man went down in front of her eyes.

"Souichirou!" Taiga's moment of shock left her open as a massive spider charged away from Ilya and towards her mother. One of its limbs reared back and smashed into the older woman's torso, sending her flying towards one of the trees and crashing into it.

"Mom!" Ilya screamed. The large creature hissed and threw itself at Taiga with its fangs exposed. The older woman rolled beneath its jump and hopped to her feet in one motion.

"Ilya-chan!" Taiga spun to the side and lashed out with her sword as the spider rebounded off the ground and threw itself at her again. The spider howled as a deep gouge was cut along its side. The giant, recognizing Ilya was now awake, began to rapidly scramble backwards towards her.

Taiga threw herself at the spider and the monster responded by unleashing a spray of hissing liquid at her face.

'I hope the Witch was right!' Taiga thought as she wholeheartedly threw an attack in response. The woman's arms blurred as a flash of light appeared in between her and the spider. The stream of liquid splashed harmlessly to the left and right sides of Taiga's body.

Taiga dove and jabbed the melted remains of her sword into the eyes of the monster. The beast let out a howl of pain as the steel ruined one of its cluster of eyes. Bodily fluids splashed out as it raised one of its powerful limbs in response and smashed its body into Taiga.

Taiga's was sent bowling backwards as the large spider brought its face in close to rip her throat out. Ilya desperately threw her circuits wide open, but immediately felt her odic prana fail as the silk she was wrapped within distorted and broke up the energy before she could rip her bounds.

"**Hold!**" A booming voice of an elderly man echoed. The spider's form was wreathed in purple energy as its dripping fangs brushed up against the skin of Ilya's mother. A crow cawed and flapped its wings before taking flight. The creature buzzed leisurely above Taiga and the spider in a large, looping circle.

"What say you, girl? Shall I have my familiar finish this woman off now?" The old man's voice merrily wondered. Taiga tensed beneath the spider, reaching outwards to pick up a stone, but the large beast on top of her hissed to stop her.

"What kind of monster asks that?" Ilya demanded. Her question merely caused the elderly man to laugh.

"Why, one that has nothing to lose, and everything to gain." The spider on top of Taiga hungrily loomed closer towards Taiga's face. "Now, I do believe we each have something the other wants. You want your mother and friends safe and sound. I want you, Einzbern."

The crow lightly landed on the ground a foot away from Ilya. It gazed at her with dark, pitiless eyes. It cocked its head to the side as it hopped around to face Taiga. "Oh, and please spare us the dramatics. She can't save herself either."

"Then why even give her the choice?" Taiga hissed.

"Oh, there has to be consent for me to get the most out of the vessel. The Einzbern always did love their failsafes." The elderly man replied. His vessel turned to look over at Ilya and cocked its head again. "Now then...will you do it?" He eagerly asked.

Ilya gazed over at Kuzuki. Her teacher was in a pool of his own blood. His arm was a ruin of pulped flesh that was just barely dangling onto his torso. She looked over at Saver and Bazette, who both looked so tiny and helpless as they lay unconscious. Then she gazed at her trapped mother. She was rapidly shaking her head in denial even as the spider's fangs dripped clear liquid onto her neck.

"...fine, I'll do it." Taiga's eyes began to water.

"Excellent!" The crow leapt up onto Ilya's body. "Then let's go." At those words, the large spider bunched its legs beneath it and leapt away from Taiga. The older woman began to scramble to her feet, but Ilya and her captors were sinking into a pit of darkness cast by the large spider's shadow.

"Ilya!" Taiga screamed as she leapt towards her.

"I love y-" Then everything went dark.

* * *

_Wise Up!_

...die!die!diE!DIE!DIE!DIE!D**IE!DIE!DIE!**


	19. Chapter 19

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 19: Disillusionment II

"What the hell is going on?" Shirou demanded as a massive circular array of rainbow light formed in the heavens, and multitudes of geometric shapes appeared within it. The shapes bent and twisted before projecting outwards and making the circle appear to look like a cog.

"...it's a reality marble." Ilyasviel whispered in wonder.

"It's forbidden magecraft that allows the user to manifest their soul in the real world. You override the natural laws that govern the world." Caren helpfully explained to Shirou. Despite herself, she felt a shiver run down her spine at the massive array in the heavens. "Something that approaches Sorcery, which in turn is something no modern magus can accomplish yet."

This cog of light flared before projecting more yellow electricity across the skies. The waves of energy lashed outwards before splitting into smaller and larger cogs of all the colors in the rainbow. Once they manifested, the cogs seamlessly linked together into a grand and expansive field of light.

A transparent window of sapphire light popped before them. Archer's grinning face appeared within the screen with an intense gleam of happiness in his eyes. "You remembered my message...thank you, Lady Einzbern."

"... you." Ilyasviel and Saber went pale.

"...Shirou?" Kiritsugu blurted in shock as he glanced at Archer's face for the first time.

"Shirou...you made it." Archer looked relieved as he glanced over at the redhead. His own sherry eyes looked content. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for trusting me." He looked over at the others. "...Emiya-san, Saber...thank you for watching out for me."

"Oniichan...?" Miyu mumbled as she glanced between Shirou and Archer.

"...Miyu." Archer's sherry eyes briefly looked pained. He looked away from Miyu. "...be a good girl for Shirou-oniichan, okay?"

"I..." The girl raised a hand towards the window.

"You remembered the code words!" Shirou blurted. He was somewhere between shock and wonder as he stared at the older version of himself.

"Of course. Dad always said to have a safe word...don't misinterpret that." Archer's image turned and blurted that to Caren, who was smirking. "'The zombie apocalypse is something we should all be prepared for...'"

"...along with meteor impacts, government conspiracies, and eldritch horrors disguised as adorable looking creatures.'" Shirou faithfully finished the words of wisdom they had been given by their father.

Herakles mutely gazed at the white haired man before them. Archer caught his look and offered him a sincere smile as both of them acknowledged each other. The bronze giant gazed over at the redhead with a new eye.

"...you are new, sir." Archer looked over at the looming red head behind his sister. The image distorted into heavy static as the chiming of crystal sang down from the skies above. His image reappeared with streams of mathematical formulas curving along the edges of the screen. "Iskander, King of Conquerors..." He looked over at Saber intently.

Saber was still in the midst of shock as she was looking at her master and then at Archer.

"Waver. Remember that name when you open your reality marble, my liege." Archer inclined his head formally. Kiritsugu and Saber's gazes snapped over at Archer's image in surprise. The white haired man looked at the two of them with calm eyes.

'You've grown stronger...' Kiritsugu thought in surprise.

"How do you know about my ability?" Iskander's eyes narrowed. His own reality marble, Ionioi Hetairoi, wasn't something he could so easily manifest. The king looked over the vast park and could feel the spark of divinity within him rage at the foulness in the air.

"Please forgive my forwardness, but we have to hurry. My reality marble allows me to access information. Information is power, but I'm just one man. I need you and your beloved companions to aid me." Archer humbly replied as he kept his head bowed.

Iskander opened his mouth to respond, but he felt a tug on his cloak. Looking down, he could see that Miyu was gazing up at him with hopeful eyes.

"...Iskander-sama, please help him." Miyu began. She wrung her hands together over the copy of the thick book she had picked up. The one that Iskander could still feel a tie to thanks to his summons. "He asked so nicely and maybe he wouldn't look so sad if we did this."

Iskander paused. His eyes looked over at the bowing man in the window. "Your reality marble...could get damaged if I summon my beloved friends." He slowly spoke up. "I don't know if it can work."

Archer glanced up. "I'd shatter my soul into countless pieces for my friends. I'll accept having the souls of you and your men project in my soul if you all accept fighting alongside mein turn."

Everyone went silent in shock.

"...sides, it's not gay unless balls are touching, I'm cool with it." Archer cracked a joke.

Shirou snorted.

Iskander boomed out a laugh. A wild grin spread across his lips. "You! I can see how you've risen to that level! Give me your name so that I may ride alongside you..."

"Shirou Urobuchi. I am the Heroic Spirit Archer." Archer serenely declared.

Shirou took a deep breath. It was something for it to be implied, but seeing the white haired man before him was profoundly disturbing on more than one level.

"Why...why did you come back?" Saber softly demanded. Her eyes showed an inner turmoil as she glanced at the white haired man and then at the redhead at her side. The older man's sherry eyes gazed at her knowingly.

"My wish was for you to be happy." Archer admitted. The blonde hissed and took a step back from the white haired man's image like she had been burned.

Caren glanced over at the blonde. 'Interesting...' The white haired nun looked at Archer and spoke up. "Then what do we propose, Urobuchi-kun?"

Both Archer and Shirou exchanged glances. Then they looked down at Miyu. Shirou knelt down before Miyu and leaned in closer to whisper something in her ear. The black haired girl's eyes lit up as she held up her arms and book for Iskander to pick her up.

The tall king swung her up and held Miyu up to his face as she leaned in and mumbled something to him.

The giant grinned toothily. His hand descended to the sword attached to his hip. Its steel blade oddly enough gleamed purple in the light as the king grasped it firmly. The carving of a lion on its pommel softly glowed as Iskander swung it. The blade sung with the slash as he raised it above his head.

"_Reality Sign: Beyond the War!_" Archer, Iskander, Miyu, and Shirou roared as one. Prana erupted from Iskander's towering frame as he unleashed his own reality marble. The heavenly gears gained deep cracks as their crooning song halted briefly before continuing at a lower tone.

A wind of hot sand blew past the group at the call of Iskander. The dying earth beneath them began to melt into an endless sea of sand. Thousands of soldiers began to walk towards them from the wavering heat haze in the distance as Archer's reality marble's kaleidoscopic light illuminated the sea of faces coming towards them.

"**Hail, mighty Iskander!**" The thousands joyfully greeted their liege as one as they raised their arms above their heads.

Iskander's heart sung as he gazed upon his beloved treasures. "My friends! We have gathered to march as one to oppose a demon which seeks to destroy the heroic descendants of our people." He slashed his sword into the air. Space warped as his two Divine Bulls pulled the monstrously huge Gordius Wheel out at his command. "I shall not tolerate one such as he destroying this world." He laughed. "At least until I have had a chance to test the mettle of the leaders of this world personally!"

Iskander's cavalry, over two thousand men strong, cheered as one as they raised their weapons. Archer took that opportunity to turn towards the King of Conquerors.

"We can do this." Shirou marveled as he glanced out at the sea of warriors.

"Yes..." Saber softly replied. The blonde and Kiritsugu both looked subdued as they moved next to Shirou. "They're all Heroic Servants. Iskander conquered them all in his day, but did it in such a way that all swore allegiance to him for life and even now..."

Miyu moved besides them with a grin. "Of course! Iskander-sama will never truly be alone so long as his comrades are besides his side." She held up the book. Shirou glanced at the title and recognized it right away. "Even in death, they will serve forever more."

"For the Emperor, huh?" Shirou grinned. Miyu had excellent taste in reading.

"Iskander is a true King...I couldn't compare." Saber glanced at the giant man rallying his troops. Shirou could make out a flicker of emotion, but it was so brief that he couldn't pin down what it was exactly.

Archer's image vanished as the chiming song in the skies above blared a high pitched squeal. The window remained behind as it shifted to a bright red as it blared a klaxxon.

"Warning! Warning!" The skies turned blood red as the window flashed.

"Look over there!" Ilyasviel shouted for their attention. The rainbow colored skies were blotted out by a wave of inky darkness as countless numbers of tentacles erupted out from the earth. They coiled and danced as they swirled around each other to form a tower.

A sensation of assured death ran down the spines of the humans watching the macabre tower form. Stone and what appeared to be meat bobbed outwards from the depths of the liquid as it finally stopped its rapid growth.

"What is that...?" Miyu wondered in shock as the mass began to fuse together.

"The Grand Holy Grail." Kiritsugu's eyes were flinty as he observed the tower. The top of the tower spat forth a sphere of purple rimmed darkness into the skies. The dark sun rose a few miles above the tower before growing stationary.

"Then we're running out of time." Iskander moved onto Gordius Wheel. Miyu quickly scrambled onto the chariot with him. Both of them looked at Shirou, Caren, Kiritsugu, and Ilyasviel. "So, come and let us end this in one single, decisive battle!"

"Wait...how can it be called?" Ilyasviel's words drew everyone's attention to her. The young girl gestured at the Grand Holy Grail. "It can only manifest like this with an appropriate Grail Vessel. Anything less and it winds up appearing like a twisted mass of meat!"

"...oh no, Ilya!" Saber gasped as she whipped around towards the distance.

Shirou's face drained of color as he broke out into a dash towards the grail.

"Wait, Master!" The blonde cursed and rushed off after him.

"We need to get there, now!" Kiritsugu yelled, eyes blazing with fear. The older man whipped towards Iskander and fairly leapt onto the chariot. His anger was such that even Ilyasviel couldn't bring it to her to hatefully retort to his statement.

Ilyasviel felt her heart wrench in her chest at the concern her father was showing the backup, but turned to focus on Herakles. "Let me go with you." She begged, feeling a knot in her throat.

"No, you're safer in the chariot. Iskander has a familiar feel to him. I trust he won't allow you to be hurt." Herakles manifested the naginata that Ren had used to save her earlier that night. "I'll go and fight alongside Shirou."

Ilyasviel twisted her foot into the earth as she looked down. "...alright. Please take care of Shirou, then." She felt a small hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Caren had approached her while she was distracted.

"Let's support our friends..." Caren offered her a small smile. "Alright, Lady Ilyasviel?"

Ilyasviel felt the comforting warmth in the nun's golden eyes. "...okay." The word friend bounced around in the back of her head as both of them rushed onto the war chariot as Herakles leapt away to do battle.

"Then let us all fight as one! We ride!" Iskander roared as he raised his sword above his head. The men let out a shout as space warped as the king gathered together all his allies and moved the entire group to the staging ground of battle.

* * *

"No! You were near death before!" Zouken's voice howled with fury as his familiars were blasted backwards as Archer's reality marble expanded with a wave of the white haired man's arm and a raw torrent of prana.

The pitch black skies were sliced in half as a kaleidoscopic beam of light lanced up from within the hero. The pillar of light exploded in every which direction. A massive spell array formed of multiple cogs and gears of various colors began to interlock in the heavens above.

Massive towers and wooden bookcases began to waver into existence at various points. At times they phased into reality and at others they were transparent. The beasts that had been sent flying back were just barely picking themselves off the ground from where they had smashed into the various objects that were now in their path.

The towers themselves were oddly contrasting in nature. The only two things they shared in common was their size, which measured as tall as five people stacked on top of each other, and the white crystal set on top of each tower.

Outside of that similarity, they each had their own unique look. They ranged from looking like giant black monoliths, rusty scrap metal towers, or to futuristic looking blending of crystal and holographic displays.

The bookcases, each about as tall as two people at most, were all universal in appearance. They were carved out of dark brown wood and they contained countless number of books. The spines of the books had golden cursive writing on the covers, but that was the only thing the books themselves shared in common.

Both tower and bookcase were chaotically spread about the landscape with no thought or care as to their positioning.

They were all connected to each other through a network of runic markings along the earth. The network tracing all throughout the various bookcases and towers were filled with kaleidoscopic light. The light ran in tiny bursts outwards from the bookcases to the towers themselves.

In return for the rainbow light, the towers fed countless rays of white light up to the gears and cogs in the skies above through the crystals the towers all shared on top.

"The full formula is a bit long, but just know that knowledge equals power." Archer snapped his hands. A beam of light shot down from the skies above and tore into empty space near him. A swirling black gap in reality appeared and spat out an old and particularly frayed looking book. The white haired man snatched the book out of mid-air. "And now I'm playing with power."

The book brightly gained a glow aura as it began to warp. The ground beneath Archer's feet sank a good two feet beneath the man as the runic symbols running along the ground twisted and flowed around him like a containment circle.

Visible amounts of dust and earth began to rise up and into the leather bound tome Archer was grasping. The flow of the earth terminated once the leather bound tome was surrounded in a sphere of light. Its intensity was such that the form of the leather bound tome was lost within.

"Kill him!" Zouken ordered as a dozen stakes soared over and past rows of bookcases.

"_Zelretch!_" Archer roared as he swung the sphere. The orb shattered as a crescent blade of rainbow light shot outwards.

Simultaneously, the rainbow patterns on the earth flared in response to the call. The flowed up the countless number of towers and bookcases. All of them rose up into the sky once their surfaces were covered with the runes.

Zelretch's ranged attack swept past the stakes, and they were instantly severed in half. The force of the attack was such that the wind tunnel created by the passage of the intial strike dragged the stake's corpses along in its wake.

An unreasonable terror bubbled up within Zouken's heart as he watched the crystal sword through the eyes of his familiars. The fear began to mount in on itself as he saw the first wave of his familiars be dispatched with a single swipe. He finally had more than enough when he saw that the wave of energy was turning the earth beneath it into glass with the large amounts of heat released. "Retreat!" The old man roared as he invoked the power of Angra Mainyu.

More of the beasts howled as the attack tore through their ranks before the remaining familiars were consumed from below by their own shadows as they began to flee.

"I don't think so!" Lancer replied as he blurred towards his enemies. The corpse of the centipede he had impaled flew off his weapon as he headed straight towards one of the beetles. The bulky monster roared as it lashed out with a wave of shadowy spears, but the blue haired hero dodged them with his superior speed.

The beast reared back on its legs as it brought its horns down to gore Lancer. He firmly placed his feet on the ground as he reared back his spear. "_Gae Bolg!_" With its true name spoken, the spear's ultimate power was revealed. Causality twisted on the spear as he thrust it upwards. Time and space bent and warped as the spear's flight was twisted and folded as it struck true.

The beetle slumped dead as its heart was pierced, but Gae Bolg's curse wasn't simply satisfied with that. The insidious curse surged into the depths of the network connecting master and familiar together as it sought the true 'heart' of the beast.

Archer's eyes widened, "Lancer! Get back!" His shout made the Irish man rip his crimson spear out of the corpse. Black inchor splashed outwards as the blue haired man sprung backwards as the beasts wailed as once before they went wild. Their talons, claws, and limbs wildly thrashed about as tendrils of darkness rose off their bodies to wildly rip through each other and their surroundings.

They turned as one and charged the two men.

* * *

"G-gaaaah!" Zouken roared in pained agony. The spider familiar he had sent out to recover his targets hissed angrily at him as the magus felt his control waver over his familiars. It bared its fangs at him before diving towards him.

The magus felt another pulse of agony race through him, sending him to his knees as a series of prana strings lashed outwards with loud cracks. The spider hovered in mid-air for a few moments before collapsing into a pile of pieces.

"Pathetic creature." A monotone voice spoke up. The struggling magus attempted to look up, but the silver haired teenager gazing down at him with empty red eyes merely nudged him with a foot. On her forehead, a bloody rune was slicked on her otherwise pale white skin. "Are you going to die?"

Clumps of dark sludge covered her otherwise bare body as pieces of spider silk were strung into her long silver hair. Behind them, a fountain of material began to bubble from deep within the earth as Gravedigger continued to chew through the dead earth to release the sludge.

"N-no..." Zouken wheezed. The old man attempted to get to his feet, but he stumbled and fell onto his hands and knees, sending his cane scattering away from him.

Ilya watched pitilessly as she invoked her Wishcraft. Just like before, she chose the most improbable scenario, and in response she saw Zouken's trembling body begin to settle. The curse of assured death from Gae Bolg began to be distributed throughout the man's hive in return.

She didn't even blink as her reserves of power instantly refilled. The sludge coating her body slithered around her body like Zouken's own mantle.

The old man's breath began to settle as he reached outwards. Ilya kicked the cane back towards him.

"Get up, then. I'm tired of this charade." Ilya calmly moved towards the magic circle drawn before Gravedigger and sat down within it.

"Heheh." Zouken dryly cackled. His eyes bulged out of his skull as he tapped his cane into the earth. "I'm so glad I was able to convince you to see things my way!"

A brief spark of light entered Ilya's eyes as the magic circle began to flare. "Yes...I was never human to begin with." The towering Grand Holy Grail began to rise from the pool of darkness behind her. "Never human at all..."

* * *

The earth around Archer and Lancer was melted into a single pane of black glass by the time the battle was over. Tiny pieces of chopped and burned familiars littered the area as both heroes rushed back to join their friends.

Archer had a firm grasp over Hou I in his left hand, and Zelretch flared in his right hand.

"What the hell was that, boyo?" Lancer demanded. His spear wildly gestured out in front and above them.

Ever since the towers and bookcases had levitated out of the way of Zelretch's initial attack, they were hovering at a set distance from them. It helped a lot when the ground beneath their feet suddenly transformed into a vast desert as Iskander's reality marble activated, but it didn't assure Lancer to see so many objects floating around the skies twenty feet above their heads.

A series of wandering black holes were moving between the bookcases and more futuristic looking towers in the skies above. One of the holes in particular positioned itself in front of a crystalline tower. A series of flashing lights appeared within the depths of the inky black hole. In response, the crystal facing the hole vanished and revealed a set of books, numbering ten in all. Their spines glowed with elegantly curved words. The swirling vortex moved down the row of books and paused in front of one in particular.

The book was swiftly sucked up into the swirling void. Lancer and Archer could see esoteric looking circuitry exposed once the book had been removed. The swirling black hole paused for a few moments. An alternate series of colors flashed within its depths.

A different book was spat out of the swirling black hole into the exact spot the former book resided. The entire crystal tower seemingly brightened up once the book was loaded into the bookcase. The swirling black hole bobbed up and down in place before the hole in tower's wall was repaired.

"Heh...equivalent exchange?" Archer looked like he had taken one step in the grave. Sand was sent scattering by the two speedsters final approach. "Nothing a nap and some prana won't fix, I'm sure."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about keeping your soul exposed." Lancer replied with narrowed eyes. "You're trying to share space with another series of souls, right? I can feel multiple presences in the sand at our feet."

"I'm just one person. The other reality marble brings many to the fight. I can handle things."

"Don't you know what that can do to you if you don't stop this foolish tactic?" The blue haired man demanded. He pointed up at the sky. The cogs and gears that had been seamlessly spinning together up until now were slowing down at the manifestation of the sand beneath their feet. Some of the gears looked slightly cracked.

Archer paused. "...well, lots of people wouldn't speak very highly of my intelligence." He briefly thought about the more violent of his acquaintances. "Oh, the witch would flay me alive with her crystals if she knew, yes. The Librarian would sic the worms on me. And the others," He hesitated. "Well – one of them would look at me with big old betrayed eyes...before trying to slice me into pieces with paper for risking the books."

"...well then, why did you hold off so damn long, then!" Lancer decided to go back.

"What about you?" Archer pinged his words back.

"...okay, fine. You got me there." Lancer replied with a hint of a sulk in it.

"Let's make it so we use our full wisdom and tactics, then!" Archer gregariously replied. He brought Zelretch up towards the string of Hou I. The crystal sword flared as the desert around them rose up and swirled en-mass towards the white haired man.

He began to knock the sword back into the string like an arrow, but the sword melted into the white string of prana. The string flared before being consumed by the bloody bow as the sands swirled into the weapon. It began to melt in a haze of heat as the weapon began to reform within Archer's hands.

The wood shattered, revealing a jet black shaft of steel beneath for a few moments. However, feathers of crimson steel began to erupt out of the base, sending flakes of wood off as streamers of sand flowed into the weapon, grounding off the former shell and feeding its mutation. The hawk like bow let out a metallic screech as the bow finished its transformation by spewing a stream of crimson light to connect one wing tip to another.

The layers of steel ruffled as Archer paused on top of a hill as Lancer blurred past him to join the fray down below. Sakura, Rin, and Caster were waging an all out war with the monsters that had slipped past the two, but Saver wasn't anywhere to be seen along with Bazette, Taiga, and Kuzuki.

'Master, what's going on?' Archer demanded.

'Medusa and Ilya were chased off by these new familiars.' Rin messaged back as he could see her form slam a burst of Gandr into the face of a spider. 'Bazette and Kuzuki aren't answering, and Taiga went off with them too.'

The three women were being forced to huddle closer to several wounded yakuza, who were firing bursts of automatic fire into the crowd, but both heroes could see that the battle was nearly lost. Lancer spun his spear around in his hand.

"You take the east side! I've got the west side!" Lancer declared. Gae Bolg began to glow with a sinister light.

'Gather everyone towards the center, Master!' Archer called out.

"I'm on it!" Archer swung his aim towards the hoard of demons. Prana began to surge from the depths of his Noble Phantasm as Zelretch took care of the power issues for him.

"Bring down the heavens, _Hou II -_!" Archer declared as nine feathers ripped out of feathered bow. The steel instantly incinerated into nine massive spheres of light that began to spin around at a rapid speed in front of his bow. Their speed was so great that they formed a circle of crimson light with magical patterns within it.

"_Gae Bolg -!_" Lancer hissed as the crimson spear in his hand began to be shrouded in a bloody cloak of curses.

Archer's arms ached as he felt the transformed weapon in his arms rip prana from him. Even with Zelretch fused into it to act as a battery, the technique was frighteningly expensive to use, and his limbs paid for knocking back a bolt of brightest light.

Lancer's legs bunched beneath him as he leapt upwards. "_The Spear of Striking Death Flight!_" He declared as he flung the spear with all his might. The weapon let out a shrill whistle as it descended like a missile and detonated like one as well when it came crashing down in the middle

"_Burst Shooter!_" Archer called out as the silver arrow in his hand was fully drawn back and released.

The wildly attacking familiars on the opposite side only had a moment to blink before a beam of flaming energy swept through their ranks. Up on the hillside, Archer moved the bow from side to side as he directed the torrent of golden sunlight pouring out from within the magic circle through the ranks. The sand was instantly glassed as the wave of energy instantly turned everything within the beam into ash.

Archer stumbled as the beam of light from his bow gutted out. He felt his knee come crashing down onto the sand beneath him. He felt a pair of strong hands settle on his shoulders just as he felt himself go crashing into the ground.

"I got you, boyo." Lancer assured the white haired man. He didn't look all that well himself, but he supported Archer anyway as the two men descended down to the group at large. Caster was shaking as she was held aloft by Sakura and Rin.

Only three yakuza remained on their feet.

"Archer!" Rin shrieked in surprise. She desperately began to feed prana into the white haired man. Their proximity allowed more than half of the transmitted power to begin restoring Archer's empty reserves.

A redhead, blonde, and bronze giant chose that moment to streak right up to them.

"Where's Ilya?" Shirou demanded. The defenders could faintly hear a faint roar come up from behind them.

"She's been taken." Archer replied before anyone else could speak. He pointed off to the where the dark sun hung in the distant kaleidoscopic skies of his reality marble. "Zouken is at the base of the Grand Holy Grail."

"I'm going then! We're fresh, and we have reinforcements coming." Shirou declared. His eyes glanced over at the others, daring them to argue his next words. "We're going."

Sakura opened her mouth, but couldn't get any words out at seeing the redhead in front of her eyes.

"Wait, Urobuchi-kun!" Rin was able to speak, though. "We need to talk..."

"I know, but we have to stop things now." Shirou brushed her off. "Get yourselves patched up. A large man named Iskander is coming up next. He's annihilating all the monsters we avoided on our way here with his army."

"H-have you seen Souchiro-sama?" Caster croaked. She looked seconds away from death with how pale she was. The redhead sadly shook his head.

"I know where they are." Archer answered. Once he was steady on his feet, he lightly pushed away from Lancer. He glanced over at Lancer. "You can feel your master still, right?" He then looked over at Sakura. "Same for Rider, right?"

Both of them nodded.

"Tell me where they are. I'll go with Rin and these two." Archer pointed at two of the yakuza. The man and woman both nodded in agreement. "We'll get them and come back to meet Iskander."

"Alright then, we're heading off!" Shirou announced as he tensed to move.

Sakura raised an arm to stop him, but Archer was suddenly in Shirou's way. "Wait." His hands came down hard onto Shirou's shoulders, pinning him down. "Don't just blindly charge in without a plan. Take a moment and calm down." He ordered.

"But she's...!" Shirou began, face growing red as he struggled, but it was Saber who stepped up to Archer's side. Her presence calmed him down as she shook her head.

"Master, Ilya is still feeding me mana. She is still safe." Saber began. "And ...Archer is right." She looked over at the white haired man, who merely gave a terse nod of permission. "If we charge in we will be endangering Ilya."

"I...what do we do, then?" Shirou relaxed under Archer's hands.

Archer glanced around at the group of expectant looking heroes. He wondered just exactly how the hell the group had seemingly turned to him. "Alright...well, here's the plan."

* * *

Zouken burst out laughing as he observed the group through the eyes of a dung beetle beneath the sands. They honestly believed him to be stupid enough to wait for them to unleash their plans? Well, it was too late.

"Avenger! Come fo-hngh?" A storm of chains erupted out of the ground around the frail old man. The shadowy mantle he wore hissed and recoiled away from the silver chains as they slithered around him, constricting both his magical and physical abilities. The chains didn't stop there as their razor sharp edges shattered through the warped space Ilya was stoically sitting within and wrapped her up without any struggle from the silver haired teenager.

An arrogant laugh answered Zouken's fearful glances.

"Foolish magus, you should have reigned in your network instead of letting it run wild. As it was, it was child's play for me to slip through the ranks." A blond haired man with gleaming red eyes walked around from around one of the fleshy walls of the Grand Holy Grail towards the two trapped Magi. He was dressed in a simple white button shirt and black slacks.

"Who...?" Zouken hacked as the chains constricted around his body with enough force to shatter a few bones.

The man smirked, "I am Gilgamesh. Now, channel your voice within that ant and tell them they have time to prepare." He commanded. His arms pressed lightly up against his lower back as he stretched a bit as he dismissed the old man to glance at the bared silver haired teenager and then at the Grand Holy Grail.

"How da..." Zouken's vision went red as the chains clattered against his form. He felt the divine power of Angra Mainyu rebel and thrash within the cloak of shadows he wore, but the chains were stronger still.

Gilgamesh gave Zouken a haughty grin, "I've learned a few things in the time I've lived again." He lightly reached down and flicked the silver chain tightly wrapped around Ilya's body with his index and thumb as he rubbed his pinkie against her pale skin. "My own odic power added to Endiku here grants the chain even greater power at binding the divine. You will not summon until I have been properly amused, do you hear?"

Zouken hissed, but Gilgamesh kept his own tiny smile in the face of the magus' inpotent rage.

"F-fine..."

Gilgamesh chuckled at the hateful gaze Zouken threw at him. "It really was your own fault. You shouldn't have left a Heroic Spirit survive the Fourth Grail War, you doddering old fool." The former Archer of the Holy Grail War gave Zouken a sharkish grin as he drew a sharp blade from within a ripple in reality.

A vellum roll was carelessly flung down by Zouken's side by the blond. Zouken's eyes bugged in his head as he saw the pieces of meat stitched onto the paper. The faint connection between him and still living meat told him they were pieces of his familiars.

And most frighteningly of all, pieces of his magic circuits. Enough that they could bind him to the words written on the paper.

Binding magecraft: Target – Makiri Zouken

The Crests of the Makiri family hereby command: Provided that the following conditions are met, this oath shall become a commandment and bind the target without exception.

Oath:

To the eighth head of the Maikiri house, Zouken, son of Durriken: regarding both Kiritsugu Emiya and the coalition of Heroic Spirits allied with his purposes, all intentions and actions to kill and harm shall be suspended for six hours.

Conditions:

…

"...!" Zouken gagged. Self-Geis Scrolls were one of the most merciless contracts that would only be used in the treacherous society of magi when a contract that absolutely cannot be disobeyed was to be made

It is an enforced curse that forcibly uses the functions of one's own Magic Crests upon oneself. Theoretically, it has a power that cannot be erased by any method. Even if the caster lost his life, the Magic Crests would bind the soul of the dead man and would not pass down the generations. It is a very dangerous magecraft. For magi, a parley that involves offering such a declaration would in fact mean a maximal concession.

Zouken turned haunted eyes towards Gilgamesh. His grin widened even more.

"It was a very boring ten years. The mongrels of the modern age have such amusing concepts of law and order these days." The Heroic Spirit murmured. The man drew his blade close to Zouken's heart. "So...what will it be? Swift death from refusing me, assured death by having your own immortality fail when you break the oath, or possible victory by entertaining me, mongrel?"

…

"So, I'm going to empower our-" Archer's plan was swiftly interrupted as a wail went up from the sands.

Sakura snapped her gaze towards the position that the fist sized beetle erupted out from. "Grandfather!" She felt the magick of the Matou crest from within the insect, and her cry caused the heroes around her to draw their weapons.

"Haaa...damn you." Zouken's voice raggedly from the familiar. The beetle scuttled to face them. "My hands have been tied...so I will give you...ngh...until dawn." His voice sounded pained and the sound of something slicing through flesh could be heard. "Gah...we'll meet and battle then."

The beetle erupted in a burst of shadow, sending pulped remains about as the old man cut off his transmission. In the wake of the beast's death, a stained vellum roll was left.

Kiritsugu dipped to his knees and swept it upwards. His eyes widened in shock as he opened it to see a bloody thumbprint pressed up against the bottom of the paper. There was no need to question this contract after the group quickly scanned it.

The power surging throughout the park dimmed significantly once Kiritsugu pressed his own bloody thumb to it.

…

"Good." Gilgamesh grinned as he drew the bloody steel sword from out of Zouken's body. "You are allowed to heal yourself now." He gregariously allowed as he stepped away from the old magus as he went to inspect the Grand Holy Grail once again.

The chains wrapped around Angra Mainyu's power slackened a bit as the god began to restore Zouken's worn body down. The master of the Matou clan angrily hissed as his wounds began to heal. He trembled with pent up rage.

* * *

It was close to midnight, one hour since they had made the deal with Zouken. The bits of the sky that could be seen through Archer's damaged reality marble showed the starry sky high above the rainbow colored barrier of cogs. Kiritsugu stepped out of the tent where Bazette and Kuzuki were recovering.

Both Saber and Shirou were both by his side as they were met by an anxious looking Lancer and Caster. Rin looked visibly winded as she stood by the robed witch. The dark haired girl restrained a yawn. "Will they be alright?" Caster questioned.

"Yes." Kiritsugu nodded. "Avalon pulled them back from the brink. They should wake up in another hour or two." He leaned over and pulled up a tent flap to show the two Servants. Both of the fallen Masters had a healthy flush of health to their features, but Kuzuki was still missing his limb.

"I'm sorry, but whatever attacked Kuzuki caused spiritual damage. We'll need to keep Avalon for the final attack." Saber glanced at Caster. The blonde was tense as she waited for the woman's reaction, but was surprised as the blue haired woman reluctantly shook her head. While this was going on, Lancer decided to sneak into the tent with Kiritsugu so both of them could converse.

"No, that's fine. I'd just like for your help when this is over." Caster diplomatically requested.

"...oh, then there's no problem at all." Shirou spoke up. His eyes focused over at Rin. "You alright?" He bluntly asked in concern.

"Yeah..." Rin fought back another yawn. Faint rings lined beneath her eyes. "I'm just transferring some prana to Caster." She looked over at the blue haired woman. The twin tailed girl wagged her finger. "It's a good thing Archer doesn't need so much."

"Ah..." Caster sighed as she nodded. "I'm sorry, but Souichro-sama isn't a proper Magus..."

Shirou began to filter things out as he began to wander away from the two women. Saber spotted her retreating Master and moved to follow after him.

"Shirou!" Taiga's voice called out to them as the woman approached them from in front. Two of her yakuza were guarding another of the tents in the vast sea Iskander and Archer had managed to whip up between the two's combined reality marbles. The older woman tried to offer the two of them a smile, but it was a shadowed, worried thing. "Where are you two going? You shouldn't be wandering around until the deadline is over." Taiga's impish expression was pained as she stopped in front of them.

"I was checking on Kuzuki-san and McRemitz-san." Shirou explained. He shoved his hands in his pockets roughly. "Only thing I can do right now, really." He sighed as he glanced up at the rainbow colored skies and harshly kicked at some sand beneath his feet.

"I am his watch, Taiga." Saber gave Shirou a concerned glance before looking at the brunette. She gave both of them a gentle smile as she walked up in between the two. Both Shirou and Saber blinked and tried to pull away, but Taiga's arms were there, and with her reinforced strength was able to pull the two gently struggling teenagers into a hug.

"You two are good kids." Taiga whispered in their ears and lightly pecked them on the cheeks. Both Shirou and Saber went red with light blushes as she stepped away from them. Her eyes shone a bit moistly. "Take a break when you're done, okay? Ilya-chan wouldn't want you two to be so worn down you can't give it your best."

"I...okay." Shirou mumbled. Saber merely nodded in stunned silence.

Taiga offered the two a maternal smile before turning and joining the wounded yakuza. It was her duty to the men to watch over them.

Both Saber and Shirou shared a glance before walking off together into the camp.

* * *

"Excuse me, miss? I apologize, but do you think I can spare a moment to speak with Miss Caster?" A rumbling voice politely interrupted Rin and Caster's conversation, which had drifted from chiding the older woman about her magic use to just general differences in magecraft in the ages. Both women looked up. While both gaped in shock, it was for entirely different reasons as the bronze giant had appeared stealthily within their presence.

"G-gah...B-berserker?" Rin asked in surprise.

"That's my title, yes." The giant kindly smiled down at Rin.

"You're..." Caster breathed out. She turned to glance at Rin. "I'm sorry, but can we finish this up later?" The witch glanced at the tent that still had Kiritsugu and Lancer within and then looked up at Berserker in wonder.

"Oh, sure." Rin nodded. She glanced over and suddenly realized that she had missed her chance to talk to Shirou. Again! "D-damn it! Where'd that jerk go off and run off when I'm busy!" She fumed as she raced away from Caster and Berserker.

"...my wife used to act like that towards me all the time." Berserker laughed. Once he was sure the girl was far enough away, though.

"Hee. Aren't they cute?" Caster smiled as she looked up at Berserker. She reached up and threw her hood off, revealing her sky blue hair and elfin ears. "You still look as strong and healthy as you ever did, Herakles."

"I appreciate the compliment, Princess Medea." Berserker offered her a sweeping bow. Caster had a light smile on her lips as she placed a hand on her cheek.

"Ah, I'm not really a princess anymore, though." Caster reached up and twirled a braid piece of her hair at her side. Her eyes dimmed a little. "I'm just a witch. Even after everything was said and done. I was just a symbol of treachery..."

Berserker shook his head, "Pay our fellow man no heed, princess. They have always been a foolish and judgmental lot. I know for a fact that you are more than meets the eye." He gazed past the blue haired woman towards the tent. "Plus your Master does as well, does he not?"

Caster offered the giant a thankful smile. "That's true. Souichirou-sama never did judge me." Her tone grew a bit more hopeful. "You should have seen it, Herakles. I was relied on tonight by everyone. There was even a child that fought alongside me." Her ears wiggled a bit in her pleasure.

Berserker nodded. He offered her a small smile. It was quite a shock seeing the solemn woman look so openly pleased with life, but he wasn't going to interrupt her.

"I ...just wish that Souichirou-sama was awake." Caster glanced sadly at the tent. "I would go in now, but I don't wish to disturb the others. They'll be fighting alongside you on the front lines later, right?" She looked up at Berserker.

"Well, how about we pass the time with a conversation about your Master?" Berserker offered as he tried to distract the woman. "I'd like to know about the man that is taking care of my friend!"

Caster giggled. "W-well, his name is Kuzuki Souichirou." She shyly began.

Berserker settled down as he watched the woman's expression grow soft as she recounted her tale to her one time friend as they renewed their ancient bonds of friendship.

* * *

Rin huffed as she ran past a tent that had a rowdy bunch of yakuza groaning and moaning within. Taiga's head briefly popped out. "They went down to the east!" The woman helpfully called out.

"Thank you!" Rin glanced back to flash Taiga a grin before picking up her pace. She knew she had hit pay dirt when she saw a flash of red and white in the distance.

Saver suddenly popped out from behind the shadowy cover drawn by some trees. Rin tried to speak, but the woman bodily checked and gagged her before dragging her off into the cover. The heir of the Tohsaka family loudly spoke up as she glared at the teenager.

"Sssh." Sakura's face loomed close to Rin's own. Her younger sister placed her index finger lightly over Rin's lips. Sakura pulled her hand away once she saw Rin give her a nod of understanding. The younger sister gestured silently at Saver. The purple haired teenager let go of Rin and crawled over next to Sakura.

Rin's curiousity was now fully engaged as she wiggled besides the Divine Spirit. All three teenagers craned their necks around as they peeked around the bark of a tree towards Shirou, Archer, and Saber's little grouping up ahead.

"...what should I call you?" Shirou questioned Archer. His head briefly turned in the direction the three teenagers were hiding. Saver was the only three of them to notice how his pupils briefly dillated before he turned back to face Archer.

"Archer is probably best. We're not exactly the same anymore." Archer amicably said. "I made sure that time has history changed."

Saber squirmed uncomfortably at that. Both the teenager and the man's gazes moved towards the blonde.

"Saber..." Shirou leaned towards his Servant. "What is going on with you?"

Archer gazed over at Saber with intense eyes. His hands slipped into the pockets of his black vest as he leaned a bit to the side.

"Master, what do you mean?" Saber glanced away as Shirou's stare grew even more intense.

"I've noticed you acting oddly for the last few hours," Shirou stated. The blonde flinched a bit and held onto her left arm with her right hand. "Especially now that Archer revealed himself. What's going on? Are you mad with me or something?" His voice sounded hurt as he finished.

"No!" Saber whipped her emerald eyes to focus on Shirou's sherry eyes intently. "I can never be angry with you, Master! You've comported yourself with dignity and grace under pressure-!"

"But I'm not Tohsaka-san or Matou-san..." Shirou's words stabbed both of the evasdropping girls in the gut. A look of emptiness crossed his face. "Heck, I can see that I don't measure up... I'm just a stupid kid. Hell, you could even take Archer here for a better Master than I am...or even Rider...or Saver... or whatever she's calling herself."

Saver and Archer's eyes widened. The purple haired teenager nearly knocked over the two sisters in her shock. Archer himself jolted like a livewire had been connected to his spine. "Wait!" He demanded. "What did you just say?"

Shirou glanced at his white haired older self with a bland look. "Rider is Saver." He blinked as he saw that Saber had gone pale. "...what?"

The blonde whipped her head around to face the three teenagers listening in. In a burst of wind, an invisible sword formed within her gauntlet clad hands. "Rider! Get out and show yourself, you deceptive shrew!"

"Wait! Wait!" Rin yelped as she was nearly crushed by the other two girls as she stumbled out. She held her hands up in a placating gesture. "We didn't mean anything by this!"

"Saber..." Shirou tiredly called to his lovable battle maniac. "Set down the sword. She hasn't stabbed us in the back or anything since we joined them."

"I...that's right. I'm a friend to mankind now!" Saver stuttered. Her confidence had taken a nosedive ever since she had become a liability in a fight. The last thing she wanted to do was to poke a hornet's nest.

"Liars start with a penalty of five!" Saber threatened the toga clad woman.

"S-senpai..?" Sakura's purple eyes nervously twitched from Archer to Shirou. She licked her lips as she took a step towards the two. Her hands twitched together in front of her pink blouse as she locked her gaze with Shirou. "I...I wanted to thank you."

Shirou grimaced. "He...what did he do?" Rin and Archer both noticed how his eyes dilated this time as he focused on Sakura. He stumbled backwards from Sakura in shock and began to gag. "You...you had **that** done to you?" His lips trembled.

Sakura flinched back. Her face flushed like she had been slapped. She stumbled a few steps backwards before she threw herself running away from the clearing. Her eyes began to tear up as she vanished into the gloom of the night.

"Goddamnit!" Shirou snarled as he raced after her. "Wait! I didn't mean it that way, Sakura!"

"Sakura!" Rin cursed as she bounded after the two.

Archer and Saver were about to rush after the three teenagers, but Saber swiftly moved to stand in front of the two and block their path. The two drew to a halt as the blonde drew her invisible sword against the other Heroic Spirits. "I want details. Now." Her emerald eyes turned flinty.

* * *

Miyu looked up from where she was nose deep in a book. All around her, several of Iskander's finest warriors were sparring with live steel around where the young girl was reading to the left of Iskander's spot at a large table in a massive tent.

'Big brother...just did something stupid.' The young girl thought. She wasn't sure which of them it was, but she was sure one of the three had just done something spectacularly dumb. The young girl hopped off her seat and began to move away – coincedentally avoiding getting knocked over as a heavy set brown haired man was sent flying into the position she had been at just a few moments ago.

Miyu walked up to Iskander – who was in the midst of intently conversing with a slim, black haired man in a red coat and yellow scarf. The man wore an all black outfit beneath the coat and had a very calm and mature air to him. Both men turned to glance at her. Miyu clutched her book to her chest and offered the two men a low bow.

"Iskander-sama..." Miyu began with all the gravity of a nine year old as she looked up with serious sherry eyes. "My big brother did something bad. Requesting permission for leave for disciplanary actions."

Iskander let out a booming laugh. His eyes shone with happiness as he knelt down to look at Miyu straight in the eyes. "Well, of course I'll grant you permission to leave. How will you know it's one of these two older brothers, though?"

"Simple probabilities. Also, Arihiko-niichan doesn't cause waves when he's in trouble. It must be one of my two hero niichans." Miyu sagely nodded. The black haired man grinned as he walked up to her and dipped down to gaze her in the eyes evenly as well.

"That's an interesting justification." The man reached for his neck and pulled off the yellow scarf. "But you should bundle up a little more, just in case." He leaned forwards and wrapped the fabric around her neck.

Miyu immediately felt the cool night dissipate as the fabric softly glowed to her eyes. "Mister...is this magic?" She looked up in amazement as the fabric flapped slightly with her motion. The black haired man's smile grew brighter.

"So, you really are a sharp one, aren't you? Iskander-sama has told me much about you, Miyu Inui. My name is Waver Velvet." He delicately reached for her hand and lightly kissed the top of it. The young girl let out a pleased giggle as she blushed light pink. "You're a wonderful person to bring my friend back to the world of the living..."

"Aah..." Miyu clutched the large book she was holding closer to her chest. Waver glanced down on it and boggled. The cover showed a set of space marines racing across a blasted wasteland wielding swords with chainsaws attached.

"You enjoy those sort of tabletop games, Inui-san?" Waver grinned. His eyes began to sparkle with energy. "I love that series! We should get a game running sometime! Iskander and I used to play games all the time when we were partners in the last War."

"This is Shirou-niichan's book, actually." Miyu smiled at Waver. "But I can ask oniichan if he wants to play sometime...?" She shyly offered.

"Of course! Of course!" Waver grinned. He stood up and moved to the side. "Your brother is also someone I'd like to meet, if at all possible."

"Okay! I'll go make sure they aren't doing anything bad. Then when we're done we'll come back!" Miyu chirped. She suddenly twisted in place as another of Iskander's soldiers came stumbling past her.

The older man was furiously rubbing sand out of his eyes as another soldier was pointing at him and laughing.

Both Iskander and Waver merely stared at Miyu in mild surprise. Her pirouette had kept her from getting caught up in the man's blind stumble all together.

"...Ichiko-neechan likes throwing Arihiko-niichan around sometimes." Miyu whispered in confidence before she dashed out of the tent.

Waver blankly stared after the young girl. Iskander lightly patted Waver on the shoulder.

"I love this era." Iskander sincerely spoke.

…

"You! Where are you going!" Miyu glanced upwards. The dark skinned little girl she had ridden with earlier in the night was standing proudly on top of the flapping fabric of a tent directly opposite Iskander's own.

"I'm going to see my big brothers. They've been acting bad." The black haired girl replied with a smile. "Do you want to come with me?" Miyu offered as she looked happily up at the girl. "We couldn't talk because of everything. I'm Miyu Inui!"

The silver haired girl wobbled in place. The rainbow light from the skies above revealed flashes of red light streaking along the surface of her dark skin and a thin blue aura of energy coating the bottom of her boots.

"Hoo, I suppose I should. Sir Ur...S-Shirou shouldn't be a naughty boy." The dark skinned girl slapped her hands together as she lightly stepped off the flapping edge and silently landed in front of Miyu. She took a wide stance with both of her hands on her hips. "My name is Ilyasviel von Einzbern! You may call me Einzbern-sama!"

Miyu blinked and looked at her blankly. She slowly and horribly began to butcher the beautiful name of all of Ilyasviel's ancestors and descendants in a single and tortorously prolonged session. By the end it was over, Ilyasviel was silently staring at Miyu in shock, having gone several shades paler and with her palms slapped over her hollow cheeks.

Her body felt like it was about to float away with an errant breeze.

"...poo, I'll just call you Kuro-chan." Miyu dismissed several generations of Einzbern tradition with an annoyed pout and deliberately puffed out cheeks as she glanced away from Ilyasviel. "Your name is funny, anyway."

"A-and calling me something reserved for cats isn't funny?" Ilyasviel demanded.

Miyu idly hummed as she glanced up at the sky.

"Pay attention to meee!" Ilyasviel wailed as she scrambled after Miyu. The younger girl raised the thick tome she had been reading up to now to hide the small smile on her lips as the two girls headed off together.

'She'll grow into the nickname.' Miyu happily thought.

"Treason! This is defamation! Herakles, stop hanging out with your old housemate and help meeee...!" Ilyasviel von Einzbern wailed as her elegant image shattered. A forboding feeling in the depths of her heart made her think maybe this wouldn't be the first or last time.

* * *

"Shirou!" Rin was too busy being worried to be angry with the redhead when she came across him. "Did you find Sakura?" She demanded breathlessly. The two of them had been searching for ten minutes now. After the long day they had, the odic prana surging through their bodies was the only thing keeping them going as the burning torches of the distant camp surged.

"No..." Shirou cursed his own thoughtlessness. His eyes ached like they had been ever since the sky had shifted into a goddamned rainbow and he had blurted something out that he had never meant to say...or apparently see.

The hell was wrong with him?

Rin grunted as she raced alongside her schoolmate. "Sakura isn't good at magecraft yet." She blurted out. "We need to get her back to the tents to at least nap for a few hours before we fight Zouken." The two ducked under a low hanging branch.

"Why...why did he do those things?" Shirou hesistantly asked.

"I...that's something only she can say, sorry." Rin resolutely shook her head. She couldn't live with herself if she knew the depths of it all, most likely. So she'd keep her mouth shut and not judge until Sakura had her chance to say anything about Shirou.

It'd be her own personal cross to bear.

'Although, I did very handily kill the conversation, didn't I?' Rin sighed as an uncomfortable silence descended on the two. The dark haired girl glanced over at the solemn faced redhead. She felt another uncomfortable pang in her heart at seeing him, though.

The teenager was foolish, but she had wanted to apologize to Shirou ever since she had heard Archer's tale. Seeing him in the front lines of the war had made her guilt build up even more on itself. Her efforts had been stymed by circumstances over the last hour.

'Too many people to heal.' Rin sighed. The girl awkwardly glanced over at Shirou once again. She wasn't used to seeing the hot headed guy look so composed. So very much like...

"Archer probably wouldn't have done that, huh? I don't see him blurt out dark secrets so far, at least." Shirou finally spoke up. He sounded strained. "God, I should have just up and slapped her. It would have been less painful for her."

Rin merely nodded in response.

"Heh...I deserve that." Shirou wanly smiled. "You probably hate me now, huh?"

"...it's not my place to hate for that." Rin said. She decided to take a deep breath as she blurted out her words. "But for what's it worth...I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Shirou balked as he stopped in place from Rin's words. Rin jolted to a stop five steps in front of Shirou. She spun around to face him.

"I screwed up again. I let that monster have my sister because I thought d-daddy was the perfect person." Rin hated the weak whine her voice had turned into at the end. She coughed and shook her head. "Now everyone is dying in Fuyuki because I let the Holy Grail War stay in my land a-and..."

"Wait! Wait!" Shirou held up his hands and moved towards her as Rin's tone went more frantic.

"Now I screwed up so bad that **a version of you from the future** had to come back and help me fix things! Even then we screwed up even more and doomed..." Rin began to babble as her eyes teared up. Her words were muffled as Shirou pulled her face into his broad chest.

She noticed she was trembling as his arms settled down on top of her shoulders.

"I...doomed you." Rin whimpered. She gazed upwards at a confused Shirou with mourning. Tears ran down her cheeks. "No modern human can become a Hero...we can only settle things by making pacts with the World. Archer can never reincarnate. He's trapped by serving for the rest of his afterlife as a mindless Counter Guardian."

"W-what?" Shirou stumbled backwards from the intense gaze in Rin's crying turquoise eyes. He...Archer did what?

"It's...impossible to be a Hero now." Rin angrily wiped at her eyes. "You have to do something that undoes a 'fated event' to rise to the mantle of Hero. And you have to get the admiration and worship of countless beings for performing something that was simply impossible."

Her lips trembled as she looked at Shirou. "Archer...could not have done that." The words were damning to hear. "The World came to Archer with an offer at some point. He had to have accepted it to be able to come back..."

Shirou flashed back to the words Archer had said earlier.

"_My wish is for you to be happy."_

'Did...I really do that?' The gap between him and his older self seemed even more impossible to breach with Rin's statement. In what possible world could he have ever done something so...moronic. Shirou's fists gripped at his sides as he dismissed the notion.

No, it wasn't moronic. It was really heroic. In a way he simply wasn't...right?

"I-I'm s-sorry." Rin trembled again as her voice warbled with pain. The pitch in her voice snapped him out of the dark storm of thoughts Shirou was entertaining as the dark haired girl simply repeated the last word over and over again.

Shirou nervously gulped. Yet the words to make Rin stop apologizing wouldn't leave his thick throat. Was...was that going to happen to him too? Or did they already happen because of this war? Was that why his ability had come back...?

A clinging dark mist began to surround Rin as he was able to smell a thick scent of salt from her. Ancient memories were drudged up in his mind with all the clarity he had back when he was a child.

_Meeting a pair of blank amethyst eyes and a set of inquisitive turquoise eyes..._

'They're so sad...'

"...even if such ordinary days are now shut by darkness." Shirou spoke up. Rin hiccuped and looked up at him with shining eyes. "I believe you. Even if that won't be forgiven by you." The dark haired girl gasped as she stepped back.

"W-why...?"

"It's not my place to hate for that." Shirou sent her words right back to her with a grin.

"...senpai, do you mean that?" Sakura's form slipped out from the distance. The girl was worn down and looked like she was on her last steps as exhausation marred her face.

Rin whipped around to face her sister in surprise.

"Sakura-chan..." Shirou hesistated. The aura of oppressive negativity around the younger girl was almost all consuming. But he wasn't going to let that get to him. It wasn't his right to let it get to him. He was just a stranger despite everything for these two. "Don't cry." He took a few steps towards the dark haired girl.

Hatred, condensed into a blade fine enough to slice him in half surged outwards from the girl's memories.

Fear, solidfied into a fist and with a strong enough grip to stop lesser hearts in its grasp, slithered outwards from within the girl as she moved away.

"Please listen to my words."

Sakura's breathing was heavy as she looked at him with wide eyes. Eyes that were more alive than they had been when they were children. The younger girl's flight or fight reflex began to calm down as she glanced at Shirou and then at Rin.

Shirou silently offered her a hand.

Sakura clutched at her long skirt as she looked over at Rin. Her sister was giving her an encouraging look as she offered her hand to Sakura as well. The dark haired girl trembled as she shakily took both of their hands.

…

"No...! That's not true!" Saber roared with helpless fury as she collapsed to her knees. Tears raced from her eyes as she slammed her gauntlet clad hand into the sands beneath her.

Standing above her was the grim faced Saver. Her knuckles were bare white as she popped a few of her bones with her angry fists.

"Shirou Urobuchi... will die on the dawn of the final day of this Holy Grail War." Archer pronounced like a grim reaper.

* * *

The dawning light of day began to stream through the cracked skyline of Infinity Library Archives. A hot wind began to blow. It playfully whipped the army's clothing and hair along with the loose sands at their feet. They were thousands strong. All were Heroic Spirits of legend or powerful humans par excellence.

Within each of their hands shone impossible weapons. Each and every one of these weapons had been ripped from the checkered history of mankind from multiple worlds were made manifest thanks wholly to the kaleidoscopic light raining down from the alien sky above.

Across the rolling desert sands their enemy waited.

An army of multilimbed insects. Each was a deformed and twisted horror that had been hoarded and insidously designed within the depths of the earth to bring out the maximum amount of suffering in the most efficient way possible.

Around each and every last creature were auras of living shadow. These mantles were the assured destruction of any Heroic Spirit if they were felled by the beast's claws. The shadows themselves were powerful enough to allow even simple, if horrific, familiars to be a match for even the divine.

One redhaired boy stood at the forefront of the army of Heroes.

"Hey, it's dangerous to go alone." Shirou didn't glance back at Archer. His intense focus was narrowed to the living tower more than a hundred yards away. The white haired man brought a dull eyed Saber next to Shirou and placed her hand within Shirou's own.

"Wait..." Shirou's attention was finally drawn away from the tower. The return of his Servant made him look up at Archer with a gaze akin to horror. "Don't you dare...!" His right hand spasmed open to let go of his grip on Saber.

"Here, take this." Archer concluded by placing a pair of silver daggers in Shirou's left and right hands with a smirk. Two sparks lashed out from Archer's hands into Shirou's arms at the contact. "We're not that chauvinistic, bro." He lightly teased.

Shirou huffed. "Fine. Thanks."

Archer nodded. "Remember...your imagination is the strongest weapon you have." With that whisper, he was off to arm the others with personalized weapons. "Remember what Myrddin taught you." He turned and cupped his hands as he called back, "Ten minutes left!"

Saber stiffened.

Shirou glanced over at Archer with annoyance, "God, he can even see into my head." He noticed Saber's pale look. However, he completely misunderstood it. "Uhm...I guess now isn't the time to tell you that your...wizard came to teach me some tricks?"

Saber's eyes glistened for a moment. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Shirou...of course he'd come to someone like you." Her voice was strangely modulated. "What did he say?"

"That he liked me, I guess. He wanted to train me." Shirou nervously shifted as he felt the daggers with an incredible ease. It felt like the weapons themselves were swiftly teaching him to wield them appropriately.

"You...probably wouldn't like that." Saber opened her eyes to look at him stoically. Her gaze flickered down to his hands, and her expression softened significantly.

"Heheh. But then I could be a knight. Magic knight...or maybe a Vanguard. I won't be accused of being a magical girl that way." Shirou muttered. "Lord knows the number of fairy connotations having Avalon in me gives me."

Saber cracked a painful smile as her hand rose to her chest. "I...w-would you like to be a knight?" Her voice hesistated. She cursed her own weaklessness as Shirou gazed up at her with bright eyes.

"Really?"

Her resolve firmed at seeing the pleasure in his eyes. "Yes...I know you would have been a wonderful knight."

Shirou finally noticed that Saber had gained a new leather sheathe at her hip, tied around her waist by thick leather straps. "Ooh? Did you get a new weapon from Archer? Guy sure is dependable." He tried to hide the faint amount of envy in his words.

Saber immediately caught on, though. She offered him a kind smile. "I think that's because you are dependable as well...Shirou." She ignored his startled look as she placed a hand on the sword hilt and drew the blade back. It was a magnificent sword that shone almost as much to Shirou's eyes as Excalibur had. "This is _Caliburn_, _the Sword of Owed Victory_, and it became the symbol of my rule when I drew it from a stone."

Shirou boggled. "But...isn't Excalibur the one you drew?"

Saber gently smiled at him. Even the sword's radiance couldn't match her expression. "History has a way of getting truths slightly off, you might say." She gestured down at herself. She moved the sword so the flat of the blade was facing him. "Now, prepare yourself."

The crowd around them stilled as their interest increased as Shirou knelt down in front of Saber.

"I'm sorry I cannot go through the whole ceremony. You deserve it and more..." Saber hesistated, but she brought down the sword as she began to recite. "I, Arturia Pendragon – King of Camelot and sworn defender of chilvalry, do hereby knight you Sir Urobuchi, defender of the realm..." She lightly tapped the flat of the sword on each of his shoulders.

The appearance of Archer's visage in the skies above caused Saber to draw back as Shirou leapt to his feet. "Time's up. Move!" The white haired barked as his image vanished.

"WAAAAAAARGH!" The army roared as one as they charged past Saber and Shirou, and towards the Grand Holy Grail.

Shirou gave Saber a wide grin.

"Well! Now I feel like I'm on top of the world! Let's go and kick some ass, Arturia!" Shirou grinned at the blonde. He turned towards where Ilya was being held for her connection to that detestable magic with a scowl as he activated his magic circuits. "_Henshin! _Let's go!"

He began to sprint away

Saber briefly gazed at his back for a few moments. Yet the true would not come out of her throat as she watched the teenager's back race further away from her.

'Arturia...you coward.' Saber angrily thought. She called Excalibur to her dominant hand as the resurrected shade of Caliburn easily showed her how to adjust for maximum usage in her free hand. A cloak of prana surged out of her body as she leapt into the fray.

To protect her Master until the bitter end.

* * *

"_Fragarach – The Retailator!"_

Lancer took a step forwards. Ten familiars died.

'What a nostalgic feeling.'

A series of rampaging monsters, each large enough to stare Berserker in the face, dove at him with speed matching his own. They were answered with the swipe of a shining sword in Lancer's hands. Each of them head their vitals torn asunder before they even set eyes on him.

That was what it meant to wield _Fragarach – The Retaliator_. Not shadowy weave of armor could stop this blade and its ability to bend time like Gae Bolg to wind up striking, and killing, before defenses could be raised as the familiars invoked on the Divine Spirit supporting them as their trump cards.

The power of Angra Mainyu surging through the veins of the familiars paradoxically ensured their annihilation before the hero's divinely forged sword.

Bazette had not recovered in time to join the battle. But she would live, and in time - recover, thanks to the actions of the Emiya family and the generosity of the red haired boy, Shirou, for offering the boon of healing in the first place.

Lancer found himself liking the boy even more when he had found out the identity of Archer. The people he liked he would do anything to aid. Fortunately it also aligned with the second of his principles. The one that had hurt Bazette would suffer greatly for harming his kin.

Lancer stalked forwards. Thirty familiars died.

Impossibly, Fragarach was performing corrections on its own once Gae Bolg was drawn out of the ether. The blue haired hero tore through the ranks with a combination of spear and his sword styles. The truly frightening thing was that he could see how the improvements in his sword usage evolved so naturally that it could only be that he himself had improved it.

'Kaleidoscope, huh?' Lancer thought of Archer's abilities as he began to dash ahead. A hundred of his enemies exploded in fountains of gore. 'I wonder if Bazette wouldn't mind a little tussel in the bed.' He amusedly thought.

The woman was too standoffish for her own good. He'd have her drinking and whoring along himself, Archer, and the boy before long.

At his hip, a rainbow colored rod-sling bounced, waiting for its own turn to be used.

* * *

Caster floated above the world. Her flowing blue robes spread out along her sides stiffly like leather wings as she soared above the armies fighting down below her. Rage was present in her mind as she looked down upon the hoards of shadowy familiars down below, but it was calm and measured.

Chilly vengenance instead of berserker rage filled her being.

So the witch stayed her hand until she was directly over the enemy forces before attacking in full force. The magic from the Age of the Gods bombarded the opposition far below her, rending the demons apart limb from limb.

Caster even happily accepted the disturbingly hateful presence of Saver as the rainbow circuited grounds shifted to a pristine white. If it meant the annihilation of her enemy, she would gladly make a deal with the devil.

She buzzed past another battalion of demons and unleashed a Rain of Light down upon them, shattering the earth and their formation. The witch halted her attack before she could get too far into it and flew away to let the encroaching army of Heroes slaughter the broken up and dispersed forms of her targets.

Caster would not hurt her allies. Not anymore.

A hoard of mutated and enlarged hornets, dragonflies, and stakes rose to challenge her aerial supremacy. Caster merely offered them a sincere smile as her eyes flashed darkly at seeing them rush at her.

'Permission requested.' The witch calmly projected. She was not like the other Heroes. Her own Master could not provide prana to her. He could not fight along her anymore either.

Even the one Noble Phantasm she knew how to use was useless to her as the swarm of insects buzzed close enough that she couldn't risk using her magic anymore.

'Permission granted. Come back to recharge when you're done.' Sakura Matou's voice politely replied. 'I'll aid you with fine control once you draw far enough away.'

But she was starting to find...

"_Argon Coin – The Golden Fleece!_" The blue robes of the witch gained golden highlights along her shoulder, upper back, and along the sides of her flowing curves. The legendary Golden Fleece triggered around Caster's body in a dome of flame and a dragon's roar as Infinity Library Archives was able to bring in the aspect of 'Dragon's Breath' as a defense mechanism.

Having allies was a beautiful thing.

'...I wonder if I can invite them for dinner when this is over?' Caster thought as she tore through the ranks of demon. Those that weren't annihilated by the dome of flame protectively surrounding her were annihilated by precision bursts of her Rain of Light with Sakura's remote help.

* * *

Ilyasviel and Miyu both stood in the main command tent along with the wounded. Both girls were moving in between clusters of previously injured and Heroic Spirits retrieved from combat by Iskander. The two girls were carrying first aid kits filled with all manner of strange substance Archer had insisted would heal the wounded Heroic Spirits.

"Kuro, can you heal the people?" Miyu wondered as both girls walked away. Behind them, a peacefully slumbering man recovered from the large wound along his gut.

"Sorry. All I can do is set their minds or bodies at ease. My water magic isn't that developed." Ilyasviel didn't protest the nickname. She just hoped Miyu kept from noticing the thin string of prana connecting the silver haired girl to the black haired girl. Both of them knelt down before another man that was greviously injured, but Ilyasviel kept at smoothing panic and trauma from forming for Miyu.

"Oh..." Miyu drooped a bit as she opened up her first aid kit. "Well, have you ever thought of clapping and then slamming your palms into the gro-"

"Alchemy. Does. Not. Work. That. Way." Ilyasviel huffed.

Both girls tensed and swiftly started to chant together. The gathered material components began to glow with prana and blur and twist together and flowed up into the man's wounds to purge infections and promote mending.

...

A massive holographic display hovered high over head and showed them the two battling forces. Several different markings appeared throughout the map and showed where in particular their strongest were located at any given moment.

Iskander was completely in his element. "Here, I want fifty men there!" The giant boomed as he felt his reality marble twist. A blip on the map appeared in position. The image expanded outwards into a massive battle as he and his former master, Waver, observed as the forces of the familiars were completely annihilated.

The image vanished as the overall map of icons continued clashing together as information streamed in from the bottom of the map.

'What a frighteningly useful combination of abilities.' Waver thought as Iskander ordered for a ranged attack. Waves of elementally enchanted or conceptual powerful projectiles shot out the majority of a cloud of flying familiars out of the sky, opening up a hole for Caster to escape from as she returned to the main tent.

"Sakura! Caster needs to refuel prana badly." Waver called out. The dark haired girl was currently kneeling below the main screen in a trance along with her sister and Saver. Each of the three was positioned around the man providing the raw information.

The man had his head bowed so his white hair hung over and in front of his face. A large white magic circle surrounded him. Smaller windows hovered around his body as he kept both of his hands steady as he pressed Zelretch down into the sandy earth.

"Ah...! Alright." Sakura stood up and moved out of her circle. It swiftly gained a rainbow hue as Caster's body appeared within the circle. The woman began to swoon but Sakura was there. The black haired girl and the witch traded smiles.

"I got you." Sakura nodded as she focused. Raw prana, dredged up from the earth by Rin, began to rise around Caster. Saver kept the energy from being sucked up by the power of Matou, which was spread out across the battlefield, while Sakura directed the flow into Caster.

"Thank you. I guess instant proficiency still doesn't work if I don't have experience using it." The witch's legs grew steady beneath her. "I'm sorry for being such a hassle." Caster ducked her head in apology.

"Don't worry." Sakura gently replied. "You're one of the strongest in the air."

"Just try not to fly too far away from the others. They have the same problem you do, but with the flight capable Noble Phantasms." Iskander called back over towards Caster. The large man crossed his arms in front of him. "Actually...how about you take a longer break? We have some people that could be patched up. It'll give you more time to let your ability sink in."

"Who do you have right now?" Caster wondered, seeing the logic in doing something relatively lighter until she was fully restored.

"...aaah! Blood! Blood!" Miyu's shriek came up from the back.

"Darn it! Sella is going to have puppies if I can't even hold it that long!" Ilyasviel yelped.

"Them..." Waver sheepishly replied as both Sakura and Caster looked at him in shock. "Imagine that, but repeated in a constant cycle..."

"Ugh..._men_." Caster slapped her forehead. She nodded her thanks to Sakura as she moved back to help the two girls.

"...I believe I will join the front lines for a few rounds! Waver, I leave you to ensure my planning goes accordingly while I'm gone!" Iskander's figure blurred as he swiftly retreated under Sakura's burning amethyst gaze.

"...well, I'll be over here trying to get us a Battle Mastery." Waver glanced away from Sakura's intense eyes.

* * *

Berserker felt the centipedes wrapped around his limbs and body. Their disgusting breath was on his bronze skin and their deadly barbs shot purchase on his body. They squeezed him with enough strength to potentially shatter through the protective aura of godhood he had seeped within his flesh.

However, his defenses were doubled this day as the pelt of the Nemean Lion hung over his body. The defensive traits of Godhand and the invunerable pelt of the first of his many labors clung to him like an impenterable shell.

The giant's muscles strained against simple physics as the beasts wrapped around him so he could not bring his strength to bear as more of the long bodied monsters desperately tried to keep him pinned. A shadow began to rise around him from below as one of the tank like beetles scrambled towards him with killing intent drapped around it.

"I think not!" Saber's voice shouted as the blonde shot straight at the beast to stop its invocation of Angra Mainyu's power. Both of her mighty swords flashed outwards as she raced past the beetle like a silver streak.

The massive creature stumbled moments before a deep wound bisecting it evenly down horizontally and vertically formed. The beast collapsed into four large chunks as the shadow attempting to appear dissipated below Berserker's feet.

Moments later, two flashes of silver stabbed into the ground near Berserker. A pillar of sunlight erupted out of the ground, causing the centipedes' tight grip to slacken as they wailed in agony. The little bit of slack was more than enough for the giant as he flexed and tore most of them off him with the motion alone.

Berserker's carved stone ax shaped club promptly landed in his right hand. In one single spin, he turned into a dervish of fury as all the creatures around him were promptly turned into nothing more than mush.

"Saber!" Shirou shouted as he rushed towards Berserker. The giant stopped in place as his gaze whipped over towards the blonde, who was being harried into a trap by ten madly laughing stake demons. The redhead and giant glanced at each other as they raced towards Saber. "Herk! Give me a hand!"

Berserker's hand grabbed down onto Shirou as he returned his ax. "Take this!" The naginata Ren wielded was handed off to Shirou before the giant reared back and flung Shirou towards the cluster of enemies with his strength.

Prana surged down Shirou's arms and up into his father's weapon as he reinforced its ability to slash. The previous reinforcement from a God layered on top of it as Shirou gripped the very end of the pole with both arms as he soared straight through the demons. Those that weren't impaled right away were knocked askew by the burst of wind he left in his wake.

"Shirou!" Saber yelped. She cleaved another stake in half before her figure blurred as she went to catch up with the redhead.

Berserker let out an awkward laugh as he reached back and drew out his next set of weapons from his stock. A bronze bow and quiver of arrows answered his call eagerly. The massive man gave a grin as he armed himself.

* * *

"Kiritsugu! Let me hit them with my sword again! I want to pay them back for taking Ilya-chan away from me!" Taiga scowled hatefully. The decayed forms of the familiars scattered around them as Kiritsugu simply reached up and lit a cigarette. He breathed out a stream of smoke as he reloaded both his weapons.

Three Heroic Spirits accompanying them through the battlefield patiently waited for the older man to reload his submachine gun and Thompson Contender with more Origin Bullets. They kept their eyes steady as they kept an eye out for the husband and wife.

"Alright," Kiritsugu agreed. "The next set of monsters are yours."

Taiga brought her hate under control and firmly nodded. She felt her hand drift over to her side, where the hilt of her transformed katana rested. The weight was reassuring as she traced her fingers along the steel and ceramic hilt. The older woman couldn't afford to keep a steady grip on it, though. She could feel the strange power that Kiritsugu and Caster's reinforcement had granted her dwindle just by touching this...

Noble Phantasm.

A thunderous crash caused the group to jolt and turn as one.

"Hail!" Iskander boomed. His voice was almost a match for the crackling and roaring thunder of Gordius Wheel. The two Divine Bulls pulling his war chariot snorted and stilled as they pulled Iskander near.

"I wished to join the front lines. Would you two care to fight alongside me?" The King of Conquerors questioned as he drew within normal speaking range.

Kiritsugu glanced at Taiga. The woman was stroking her chin in thought.

"Of course we will!" Taiga turned and smiled at Kiritsugu charmingly. "Right? We can get to Ilya-chan quicker."

Kiritsugu nodded, but he looked over at Iskander intently. The Heroic Spirit merely offered him a small smile and a nod.

"Alright." Kiritsugu's daughter would always have first priority over his own doubts.

Both of them got onto the back of Gordius Wheel along with Iskander. The redhead whipped at the harnesses to the two bulls pulling his war chariot. "My friends, I shall send you to join the others! Zouken has begun to field stronger demons to challenge us."

The three Heroic Spirits nodded as they were whisked away in a swirl of desert sand.

"Now, let us see what this Zouken has to bear!" Iskander laughed as their chariot began to thunder across the plains.

Kiritsugu leaned up against one of the edges of the chariot. He breathed out as he activated his magic circuits. His family crest had long been removed and transferred into Ilya, but he still possessed the two skills he had trained with.

Skills that were most likely going to be turned against him eventually.

But for now, Kiritsugu would focus. "_Accel_." The world slowed to a crawl around Kiritsugu as he whipped his Calico M960 out. He moved in a blur as he dashed from side to side of the chariot as he unleashed quick bursts.

The familiars roared in pain as the Origin Bullets slammed into their bodies. From there, several of them bloated and popped like rotten produce. The power of Severing and Binding annihilated them from the inside out as the massive amount of power within their bodies turned on them.

Several demons were unaffected, though. Those were the ones Taiga was eyeing for a kill. Her thumb flicked her sword out of the locking position in its sheath.

"Bring me closer so I can hit them with my sword!" Taiga demanded. Iskander obliged with a self-satisfied nod.

The massive wheels of his war chariot tore through the desert sands. The blades along the edges tore through earth and flesh alike. Gordius Wheel rumbled as it trampled through hoards of demons and pulped their bodies beneath its massive frame.

Their target loomed in front of them. A shadow in the shape of spider, it was a good fifty feet tall and seventy feet wide. The beast was singlehandedly putting up a fight against two squads worth of Heroic Spirits and their Noble Phantasms with ease.

The beast spotted the thundering chariot approach. It hissed as its body began to ripple as it took a step towards them.

Smaller creatures fired outwards from within the depths of the towering giant. These smaller creatures were composed of various sized spiders, each of which were also made of shadow, and were wildly descending down on the landscape around them.

One of them flew straight down towards them.

Its segmented eyes flashed red as the beast shot out a thick blast venom straight at Iskander.

"Get down!" Kiritsugu was a blur as he shoved his way in between Iskander and the front of the chariot. The Divine Bulls pulling Gordius Wheel let out a cry of surprise as the war chariot jerked to the side as Iskander was forced to let go as the venom smashed into Kiritsugu's left side.

"Argh!" Kiritsugu hissed as he went down with steam hissing off his body. His coat, which he had used to shield him from the majority of the blast, began to dissolve as his weapons clattered to the bottom of the chariot's floor.

The spider briefly alighted on the desert sands.

Even through his reinforcements, Kiritsugu could feel the burn of the acid eating through his coat. The shadow infection devoured the mana of his reinforcement faster than he could renew it. He instinctively ripped the coat from himself, his exposed fingers sizzling from momentarily touching the acid on his coat. Fortunately, his accelerated body kept the contact too brief to inflict lasting damage.

The same could not be said for his coat. No longer connected to him, it quickly dissolved in a burst of acrid smoke once the reinforcement was lost.

The giant spider let out a shriek of surprise as Iskander whipped the reigns harder. "Do it!" The King of Conquerors commanded as their war chariot caught onto a sloped dune and went airborne.

Kiritsugu clutched at the side of the chariot. Taiga bounced in place as she drew out the Noble Phantasm she had been given by Archer.

"_Totsuka no Tsurugi!_" Taiga roared. The prana surging through her body from Kiritsugu was just enough to trigger a stunted form of the Noble Phantasm's skill as she leapt off Gordius Wheel. Her body rose high over the spider as streams of lightning began to wrap around the steel of the katana.

The energy soaked into the hilt of the katana. There was a loud clicking noise as the katana's blade popped six inches upwards. The grip of the weapon also descended by an equal distance at the same moment. Finally, the sword's guard curved upwards and outwards like living metal with a slithering hissing and smell of ozone.

When everthing was said and done, it now looked like more of a polearm than a sword.

Taiga easily swung it around and away from her body, despite the increase in size. But the blade continued growing and widening as she concluded her swing with the katana high above her head.

"**CHESTO!**" The woman howled as she brought the giant sword down. At the command, the weapon unleashed a massive blast of lightning from deep within its core. The lightning extended the blade even further as it came down with all the might of its former wielder, Susano – God of Storms.

The beast howled as lightning clashed against shadow. The liquid like body the creature possessed began to bubble and boil as sparks erupted from where the lightning blade clashed up against the surface.

Taiga felt the pseudoflesh beneath her sword begin to satisfyingly give to the weapon in her hands even as she felt the power she was being granted by her husband begin to fade with the distance between Gordius Wheel and herself.

The beast shook as it brought massive limbs to try and rend her apart in mid-air, but it was interrupted by Iskander. The man had finally managed to get his chariot back under control and had redirected it to face the giant.

"_Via Expugnatio!_" Iskander roared as he drew his sword and pointed at the giant. At his call, the two bulls tapped into their abilities as Children of Zeus. Divine power flared through their bodies as the war chariot reached speeds of 400 kilometers per hour. The thunder they had been spitting out increased in force as well as the runaway chariot hit another slope and flew through the air.

Taiga boggled as Kiritsugu and Iskander soared below her in slow motion. Both men had their arms crossed across their chest within the thunder bolt that the chariot had become. They flashed across the skies and tore straight through the middle of the spider and clear through the other side.

The beast wailed as its protections failed and Taiga's sword cleaned it straight down the middle. Both Taiga and Gordius Wheel landed on the ground at the same time as the beast exploded in a wave of inchor.

The purifying white light within the reality marble dissolved it before it could harm any living being around it. The Heroic Spirits cheered as one as they rushed towards Taiga, Iskander, and Kiritsugu to congratulate the trio.

Taiga merely rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. Totsuka shrank back to its normal size as she sheathed the katana. The woman felt a bit sheepish as she was slapped on the shoulder by several rambunctious men as their congratulations filled her ears.

Kiritsugu remained silent at Iskander's side. The man glanced down at his exposed arm. The puckered up scar tissue on his arm was the only sign he ever had a Magic Crest.

"Is there a problem?" Iskander quietly asked the man.

Kiritsugu glanced upwards at Iskander with a somber gaze. "Yes...she has my Innate Time Control..." He looked over towards the east where more massive horrors were beginning to step out from within the Grand Holy Grails' walls. "This is just going to get worse before it gets better."

* * *

Gilgamesh merrily laughed as he observed the battles going down below with reinforced vision. Zouken bitterly stood behind the blond haired Heroic Spirit as he fulfilled each of the more powerful being's requests. The chains of Endiku, which were perfect for restraining the gods, remained tightly wrapped around the magus, restraining his powers until he did whatever Gilgamesh requested.

"Interesting! Very interesting!" The blond stepped back from the edge overlooking the rampaging demons and Heroes below to face Zouken. The magus offered Gilgamesh a weak sneer. The Hero smirked. "You've amused me. You could use more power, though."

Zouken followed Gilgamesh's ruby eyes as they flicked over to the silent silver haired teenager. "Use her as something more than a vessel." The blond Hero smugly grinned. "That's your one piece of free advice for providing an amusing show, worm."

"...sir." Both men glanced over towards the edge Gilgamesh had just walked away from. A white haired teenager in a black coat over a leotard walked up towards them. Her expression was one of controlled apathy as she looked at Zouken briefly before addressing Gilgamesh. "I've returned."

"Caren." Gilgamesh grunted in greeting. He idly took in how unruffled she looked. Almost like she had just taken a afternoon jog. "You look remarkably intact for fighting hordes of demons."

"I lost my beret." Caren reported. She raised one of her hands to run them through her wavy locks of hair. She grimaced as she saw some black tar on her fingers after the fact.

Gilgamesh frowned. "That's neglible."

"I **really** liked that beret." Caren countered with a placid look in her golden eyes. "Did father send you?" Her tone lightened just a bit.

"No." Gilgamesh replied with a grin. "I came to watch. I already recovered what Kotomine wanted."

"Oh." Caren's voice turned frosty.

Gilgamesh turned back towards the magus. "Well, this is where we part. Win or lose, I'm sure there'll be less worthless existences in the world when this is over." The blond grinned as he lightly flicked the old man on the forehead before turning around and shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked away. "Caren, come."

The white haired teenager frowned as she silently moved to shadow him. The two vanished a few moments later and were promptly followed by the chains holding Zouken hostage and Angra Mainyu's power back.

Zouken's pride, so thoroughly trampled upon, demanded satisfication as it stirred from its tomb. It was time to flex his power.

With a thought, Zouken commanded the Grail Vessel to invoke the full suite of her abilities. Wishcraft reinforced the possibility of survival by affecting cause and effect. Zouken boomed with laughter as he felt the strain of Angra Mainyu shift over towards the silver haired teenager.

Unimaginable power began to course through his body from his connection with Angra Mainyu. The girl's Crest flared as it began to endow him with heightened reflexes and reaction times. In return, the vessel's skin gained dark markings as Angra Mainyu's very being began to descend on them through the puppet as its body.

'So close...!' Zouken salivated as Gravedigger, the flesh of the new God, began to slither closer towards the Grail Vessel for the final step. With its fusion with the Vessel, he would gain the body of an immortal god!

Three flaming sparks lit up in the distance followed by a loud, echoing explosion. The magus's wide eyes observed three spheres of white light streak from the far off horizon and into the body of his colossus at supersonic speeds.

"Noo!" The man howled in sheer rage as the three shots soundly smashed into the front of Gravedigger. The giant familiar simply ceased to exist up until three quarters of its body. Shearing winds began to whip about in the wake of the shots to finish the job, "Get the barrier up! Get it up!"

Only to smash into a warped space. The temporal and wishcraft generated barrier slowed the razor sharp winds to gentle breezes. The shadows stretching outwards from the Grand Holy Grail began to seep into the annihilated body of Gravedigger as it began to reform.

Zouken felt warnings scream across his network of familiars as he spun to face an incoming trio. "Die! Die! Die!" He roared as the cloak about his body flared around him as he slammed his cane into the ground. "Break into pieces and die!"

At his side, the Grail Vessel twitched as she saw a redhead rushing towards her. "Shi...rou." She whispered.

* * *

"I don't think he liked Lugh's Chain." Lancer reported. At his side, the slingshot bounced on his hip innocently.

"Gee, you think?" Shirou snapped.

Plumes of flame and shadowy spears exploded out beneath the hot desert sands as Saber, Shirou, and Lancer raced up the final incline towards Zouken. All three strained their bodies to their limits within the warped space dominated by the Grand Holy Grail. In this section of the world, even Saver's pristine white light couldn't stop the rapid dip in their odic levels.

The trio felt their legs burn and their bodies break down as they rushed through walls of flame towards the madly roaring Zouken. The elderly magus' cloak continued to wildly thrash about his frame like a wild animal as his eyes sparkled with madness.

"Break!"

Saber cleaved through a forest of razor sharp needles.

"Rend!"

Shirou's chainsaw naginata blew an opening of a wall of flame.

"Why don't you drop dead?" Zouken wailed as the sands rose as a barrier, warping space and time together with Ilya's powers for a final defense.

"That's because..." Lancer leapt into the skies above. Both Gae Bolg and Fragarach were in his hands as he spun them both to aim at the barrier. Both of the weapons flared with light as the blue haired hero flooded them with his prana. "**Hell and Heaven will never accept you!**"

"Lancer!" Shirou shouted up in horror as the man was impaled by countless shadowy spears. The two weapons in his hands went dim as he slumped forwards against the piercing weapons. Both Shirou and Saber helplessly slammed their fists against the wall of force in their way.

"But Death will accept you." Zouken sneered.

The shadows raced to finish off both Saber and Shirou.

"Shirou! Stay behind me!" Saber moved in front of the redhead. Was this going to be how Shirou would die?

The blonde tightened her grip on the two swords in her hands. The blood pounded in her ears as she saw the tidal wave of darkness surge towards her. She felt Shirou's hand on her shoulder.

Lancer's hands, which had been tightly grasping at the two weapons in his hands, twitched.

The first wave of shadows going for Saber were annihilated as a pillar of golden light tore out from below the earth.

"How...?" Zouken staggered in surprise. "Wait...that power." His gaze moved over towards Lancer.

The Irish hero's head rose up to glare at the elderly magus with wild eyes. He still lived - even as his insides burned and he felt his body send commands to his brain to die.

"It's obvious!" Blood poured from Lancer's mouth. Fragarach shifted into a silver dagger with a sphere of crystal at the tip of its grip as Gae Bolg transformed into a shaft of crimson light. "Victory goes to those...**WITH COURAGE!**"

"_Fragarach – The Retaliator! Gae Bolg – The Spear of Striking Death Flight!_" Lancer roared as he released Gae Bolg first, and then Fragarach. The wailing spear slammed into the wall of energy with explosive force. Sparks flew as the weapon attempted to reverse casuality to pierce through the wall to get at Zouken.

"_Cú_Chulainn!" Zouken gagged in horror.

Yet its fury was nothing like what happened when Fragrach's streaking form slammed into and merged with the demonic spear. The silver dagger and blood red spear began to twist and turn in on itself as the clashing powers of heaven and hell began to come together to rip through the temporal barrier.

"That's right...and I refuse to die when I'm killed!" Lancer viciously grinned. His pale face was highlight in bloody reds and accented with silver light as both of his weapons' contrasting natures caused the wall to buckle.

Zouken howled as ripples of golden flame streamed across his vision like the rays of the damning sun. The lumniscience was such that the shadows immediately around the Grand Holy Grail were annihilated outside of the barrier.

Casuality turned in on itself as it utterly shattered the wall.

Lancer felt his vision started to go black as the spears holding him aloft vanish. The last of his reserves, extended past the point of death by his myth and mimicked in his Servant body, began to give way. 'Was...that good enough, Bazette?' He saw the ground swiftly rise to meet him.

"Haaa-!" Both Shirou and Saber roared as one as they leapt. Divinely enhanced naginata and holy swords tore through Zoukens' body, leaving afterimages of the flashing blades in their wakes as the ancient magus stumbled backwards.

"Gah..." Black blood bubbled forth from Zouken's mouth as a razor thin cut appeared in the center of his neck. Thick inchor poured down his wrinkled and rotten flesh from the wound. His body jerked backwards once again as two more thick cuts, crossing the exact center of his shadowy robe in an X shape appeared seconds after the one at his neck. "Ga...hahah...!"

Zouken's head toppled to the left as his body fell to the right.

Shirou silently glanced away from the ancient magus. "Ilya!" He rushed towards the silver haired teenager. The girl continued to stare silently at Zouken with dazed red eyes as Shirou set down his naginata by his side. "Snap out of it!" He reached towards the girl and grasped her by the pale shoulders.

Ilya whispered something to herself. On contact with the thick black mud coating her bare body, Shirou's hands broke out in hives as his skin burned. Thousands of sins, both large and mundane, he had committed throughout his life hammered into his brain with the force of a jackhammer.

**'Die.'**

Along with the only way he could make up for those sins.

"Gah!" Shirou fell back on his rear. His hands came to slam over his mouth to stop himself from screaming.

He wasn't sure if he would ever stop if he started.

"Shirou!" Saber shouted as the blonde rushed by his side. The sickening sensation of inevitable madness dissipated as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Ilyasviel, what is the meaning of this?" She demanded as she looked over at the silver haired girl.

"Master...is dead." Ilya slowly rose in the midst of the magic circle she had been resting. Her empty eyes gazed away from Zouken's corpse to focus on Shirou. "Shirou...doesn't want me." Her emotionless expression twisted between delight and mourning as she raised a hand towards them.

The mud surrounding her began to rise up her nude body like a skin tight dress.

"There is only Angra Mainyu left." Ilya spread her arms wide as the remains of Gravedigger and Zouken tore into pieces. Thick pillars of shadow tore themselves free from within the earth and rose to join together in the skies above the trio.

The shadows curled and twisted upon themselves, rising higher and higher into the sky. Massive skeletal wings unfurled from its forming body, the gray membranes displacing the air with a stormy whoosh. Revealed between the outstretched wings was a featureless, black humanoid giant. It's body was gaunt, nearly anorexic in appearance, while its face was hidden beneath what they assumed was a horned helm. The helm then revealed itself to be its true face as two white slashes open at eye level when the creature lifted its hands to its face.

"What is your wish, Master?" Ilya knelt down as she faced the figure.

Angra Mainyu's voice boomed across the heavens as more and more towering figures crafted of shadow began to rise around the Grand Holy Grail. "**They will die. Even if they run to the end of the galaxy.**"

* * *

At that precise moment - humanity came to a collective realization. They were going to die. Deep within their hindbrains, the warning screamed so loudly that each and every person on earth found themselves instinctively turning towards the general direction of Japan.

Then the pain struck...

It was very mild, all things considered – just a bit of numbness in the top right corner of the skull, but it was the pain emphasized the warning bells that were ringing in many people's minds. Those in the know began to panick even further as they attempted their hardest to resist the effects. There was no escape so long as you were human, though.

The nonhumans, smaller in number – yet infinitely powerful compared to a single human, grew interested and began to plot. The schemes within the shadows began to grow more and more elaborate as the ones amongst them that were once human could faintly feel the force being brought to bear against all of humanity start to increase.

This...might just be the end of the current world.

Alaya, the splintered off portion of the world's will, stirred in response as a massive amount of humans began to uneasily react. The sensation of fear that hadn't manifested consciously in the hearts and minds of those she responded to yet. But the portion of Gaia's will that responded to humanity's will to survive could hear the unconscious screams of fear as humanity began to react on a primal level to a massive extinction event.

It began to mobilize its Counter Guardian forces.

These were human beings that had sold their eternal afterlife to become mere extensions of Alaya's will. Under the world's command, they became infinitely powerful, capable, and above all else – ruthless. These were the dogs of the World. The puppets that would never be able to tear off the strings of their distant puppet master despite what say they had or will they may have once possessed.

Counter Guardian Emiya was prepared as Alaya reached into the multidimensional Akashic Records.

And so...the man that Shirou Urobuchi would have become in many worlds was sent to Fuyuki City. His silent tears were dismissed as the Counter Guardian's own will was suppressed. It was time to slaughter until no one was left. There would be no salvation to be granted by the hands of the one that wished to save everyone.

* * *

"He's coming." Archer glanced up as he broke his trance for the first time since the fighting began. His statement was enough to startle Waver from where he was nursing a headache. Rin, Sakura, and Saver all glanced up from where they had been mediating too. "Angra Mainyu completely manifested. The World is sending its clean up crew to murder everyone that was involved in the Holy Grail War."

The white haired man rose to his feet. Zelretch came out of the sandy ground with a wrench. Sand poured off it in rivets as the man turned to glance over at his friends and allies. "Medusa! Take the center of the magic circle." He commanded. "I've finished adjusting it. Iskander and my reality marbles will work together now without any further degradation."

"Wait!" Waver stepped up. "What about the Counter Guardians?" He demanded. His eyes possessed the sharp and powerful air of a Noble of the Mage's Association.

"One of them was sent. Despite everything, it's not to the point where Alaya will send more." Archer glanced over at Rin.

"Why's that?"

"Because the humans in the group aren't bleeding out of their orifices yet." Archer replied. The man shook his arm as he felt the burn of holding onto Zelretch deep in his left arm. He looked over at the two sisters and Gorgon. "I'm feeding this reality with power from alternate dimensions I linked into with my reality marble and Zelretch. I want you three to bombard the enemies with everything you two can muster. Bring out all of the stops."

Waver stepped up. "What about Iskander's skill? Will the warped space prevent him or I from manuevering everyone out of danger?"

"To a degree, but you can still use the Deep Strike to teleport us around. It just requires more concentration." Archer faintly smiled. Waver huffed as he crossed his arms in front of his chest as he glanced up at the map with amusement.

"No point and click, huh?"

"And where are you going, Archer?" Medusa demanded.

"I'm going to meet the Counter Guardian. I'm going to warp him into the deepest levels of the Archives. So far away from the World that it'll become an even battle." Archer frowned a bit. "Take Zelretch off me if I fall, Waver." He glanced at the man. At the same moment, a new icon with a bow and arrow appeared. "Give it to Rin."

"W-wait! What do you mean by that?" Rin demanded.

"Zelretch was your legacy after all." Archer stated. He reached up to his left arm and rolled the dark sleeves upwards. Parts of the Tohsaka Crest along with pieces of the Matou Crest and tiny chunks of the Einzbern Crest they had seen appear on Ilyasviel's body were on the limb. "Sorry, I kind of ripped you off..."

Rin was beyond the ability to sputter. The white haired man's sheepish look remained on his face.

* * *

The black sun high over the Grand Holy Grail flared with devilish light as Ilya began to process the wish of the Divine Spirit. Saber and Shirou scattered as they each tore towards their respective battles with only one last glance at each other.

Shirou tore straight towards Ilya. Saber roared as she threw herself at Angra Mainyu.

"Shirou...you can't imagine how happy you made me by coming here." Ilya whispered. The black mud around her legs rose like sentient ribbons as their crimson edges sliced towards him.

Shirou dove out of the way of the attacks as he scooped up the naginata in a diving roll.

...

Angra Mainyu met Saber's roar with his own. The blonde pest ripped the earth asunder beneath her legs as she threw herself straight up at the dark god. Prana surged to life around her body as her swords blurred with great speed.

The Divine Spirit met her challenge head on as its massive wings slammed into the blades with echoing clashes of metal. His vision went red as the lightest of scratches formed along one of the joints of his wing. Angra Mainyu tore down towards the earth towards the descending woman.

Angra Mainyu lashed out with a vicious series of claw strikes and wing blows, but Saber was constantly on her guard. Each was met with just enough force to deflect it and open the god for more slashed across its body. The Divine Spirit howled in rage as he felt the cuts from Excalibur burn the most against his skin.

The Divine Spirit realized that the blows from Excalibur stymied his regeneration moments after attempting to heal one of those cuts. Angra Mainyu hissed and forced an opening against the tiny king. The god swiftly began to bat Saber about its massive wings as he spun in mid-air. The blonde was caught within the storm generated by the god's mad dance as she was sent spiraling down into the hard earth at bone shattering speeds.

The knight left a twenty meter deep crater as Angra Mainyu slammed one of its fists down on top of Saber. Earth exploded around the Divine Spirit's fist as the hill shuddered with the force of the blow. The god's claw firmly grasped Saber's entire body within its dark palm as Angra Mainyu turned to face the incoming army.

Foolish to think they could challenge him. Even with the Matou's curse of absorption gone it was the height of folly.

Saber furiously kicked and batted at his fingers ineffectually as she struggled within his grip. The armor plating around her body was warped and shattered in multiple places. The dress itself was stained with the mud and sands beneath the black filth pouring out of the grail.

"Begone!" With that declaration, Angra Mainyu sent Saber flying away with a mighty throw.

"I don't think so!" Caster suddenly appeared high in the skies. The woman snatched the descending king in her arms before swiftly rising up to the rainbow colored heavens as both women got out of the way as Angra Mainyu was suddenly surrounded by ten Phallanaxs.

The Divine Spirit roared with agony as its body jerked underneaht hundreds of arrows, dozens of spears, and a handful of sheer elemental strikes slammed into his towering frame. Despite the pain caused by the conceptual weapons or even magically enspelled Noble Phantasms they wielded, none of them could permanently harm the fifty foot tall god. Angra Mainyu responded by lashing out with a shockwave of shadows.

The brown sand beneath the men's feet swiftly corrupted into thick, black mud as the God of Evil sought to drag them within. Several began to struggle and the Divine Spirit felt the very air itself twist to whisk them away. Angra Mainyu grinned as he flared his dark aura and slammed Waver's attempts away.

...

"Waver!" Rin shouted as she saw the older man stagger. Blood poured down his nose as his wavering vision dimmed for a few moments. He held a hand up to stop Rin from stepping off the magic circle on the ground.

'Are you alright?' Iskander's mental voice demanded. Thanks to Infinity Library Archives, the King of Conquerors had a sharp tie with all of his men, and was able to whisk them off to safety before they were wounded greviously.

"I'm fine." Waver wiped the blood off his face as he answered both Rin and Iskander. He glanced up and saw that Caster had safely retreated Saber. Their icons moving away as Angra Mainyu tried to bring the three hundred men challenging him down into the shadows. "We need a distraction so I can pull them out."

"'Artillery'!" The older man sheepishly shook his head at both Rin and Iskander's solution, but he helped Iskander guide ten Phallanxs with siege equipment over far from Angra Mainyu's noted range.

'I'm heading in Waver!' Iskander responded. His icon began to speed towards Angra Mainyu along with Berserker.

…

"Iskander, drop us off here." Taiga called out as the trio rode towards the monstrous god in the horizon. The king looked back at the smiling woman and grim man in shock. "We're just going to slow you down from here on out."

"Wait, what do you mean?" The two bulls pulling Gordius Wheel slowed their pace.

"We're going to find Ilya." Kiritsugu replied as he finished checking his gear. "The demons are being routed by your forces. At least the ones not focusing on Angra Mainyu now. We're needed somewhere else."

"Here." Taiga smiled and handed Iskander her katana. "I felt it react when you used your power. It might be more useful with you than with us." She took the submachine gun offered by Kiritsugu as both of them moved towards the back of the chariot.

"I..."

"Protect those that mean the world to you, right?" Kiritsugu replied as both of them leapt off from the back. Both Taiga and Kiritsugu rolled to their feet before dashing off towards the Grand Holy Grail.

"Wait!" The redhaired man whipped Gordius Wheel around to draw near the two as they began to race towards the Grail. He reached down and drew his scabbard and sword off to hand it to Taiga. "Good luck!" With that, he turned the chariot around and tore towards the giant Divine Spirit.

"_Via Expungatio!_" The King of Conquerors roared his challenge. The two Divine Bulls called upon the wrath of Zeus as he and his chariot were wreathed in a thunderbolt. They whipped across the desert at their top speeds towards Angra Mainyu.

The Divine Spirit whipped around to face the incoming blast of lightning with a sneer. "Weak godling, drown within all of Humanity's Evils!" Angra Mainyu roared as he threw his spindly arms outwards. Space began to warp in front of the dark god.

…

"I-Iskander..." Saber grunted as she tried to stagger to her feet. Caster kept her arms firmly around the blonde as the two watched as the warp in front of the dark god began to twist apart. Thick streams of wiggling red matter began to pool out like blood. "We..have to help him." She raised a shaking arm towards Iskander.

Caster felt sweat begin to pool down the back of her neck. Her gaze whipped over from the broken form of Saber. Then over at the charging form of Iskander across the muddy ground that had nearly consumed his allies.

The Golden Fleece about her body throbbed as Saber pressed up against her. An idea came to her mind as she remembered sharing power once before. "Can you trust me?" The witch pressed as the blonde raised her head to look at Caster. "My Noble Phantasm is reacting to you. We might have a fighting chance if we combine our talents."

"I..." Saber's gaze moved towards the struggling Heroes attempting to pull themselves out of the earth. "Yes, let's do this."

"Alright, then!" Caster invoked her ability for Territory Creation as she swiped her cloak down and over Saber. When she pulled it back, the blonde was gone – whisked to a simple room within the shadows of her cloak.

'Caster, your prana...?' Sakura's voice came through loud and clear.

'Sakura, I need you, your sister, and Saver to help me.' The blue haired woman began to rapidly explain the situation to Sakura.

…

Iskander drew Totsuka no Tsuguri out of its scabbard.

The divine lightning wrapped around Gordius Wheel began to infuse the blade. In the grip of a god, the katana transformed into its true form. Steel transformed into lightning, but the attack was different this time. In the hands of Taiga, the steel had only been able to generate an aura of electricity, but this was now a weapon channeling the concept of Storms.

Iskander readied the sword. "You'll need more than that to drown me!"

"Then drink deeply with my regards!" The dark god replied as he threw open the gates of hell.

Iskander felt countless curses form in front of Angra Mainyu as the rip widened into a massive doorway. Moments later a red tide of blood and dark wraths sprang forth from within the portal. The twisted, gaunt spirits howled for mercy that would never come as they rode on the wave of negativity.

The Divine Spirit triumphantly moved back as the rolling sea went crashing towards Iskander. The feelings of victory within the dark god faded and ash filled his mouth as a bronze giant came crashing down in between the surging tide and the galloping lightning bolt.

"_Nine Lives – __The Shooting Hundred Heads!_" Berserker moved just ahead of the thunder bolt with his challenging bellow. His proud figure blurred out of sight as he moved just a foot ahead of Gordius Wheel. The divinely enhanced stone axe in his hands cracked the air as he sliced through the ocean ahead of him.

"Berserker!" Iskander shouted in shock.

Every evil thought and intention in the world scrapped and clawed at the protection afforded to him by both God Hand and the Nemean Lion's pelt.

"Hahah!" Angra Mainyu's booming laughter echoed. "So eager to die? Then I'll consume you first!"

Parts of Berserker's body not protected atrophied. Chunks of his skin decayed in moments and fell off.

"Foolish man, even the gods will fall before my power!"

The wicked words of the damned drove Berserker into and past madness several times, but he would not stop in his duties.

He died and was revived only to die again in an unending cycle.

It was unceasing agony as the bronze giant single handedly cleaved through the ocean of evil for his fellow Hero, but the thought of protecting Ilyasviel from this wicked creature kept him moving. Berserker knew that even she would die if Angra Mainyu broke free from within the two layers of reality keeping him seperated from humanity as a whole.

So Berserker would fight. Until the day came she too would embrace the path of humanity.

"W-what?"

The path to Angra Mainyu shattered open as Iskander and Berserker surged ahead. The crimson ocean parted to reveal the completely flummoxed Divine Spirit. Berserker came crashing down to the earth as Gordius Wheel leapt over the weakened god.

"_Totsuka no Tsuguri!_" Iskander roared as he brought Totsuka no Tsurugi around. The heavens shouted their judgement down on Angra Mainyu as the dark god was slammed into by Gordius Wheel's lightning. The trailing blade of thunder from Totsuka no Tsurugi slammed into the gut of the Divine Spirit, carrying both Iskander and Angra Mainyu away from Berserker.

Angra Mainyu's entire body jerked backwards as Gordius Wheel flashed past its body.

Gordius Wheel came to a crashing halt on the surface of the desert. Iskander calmly glanced backwards at the Divine Spirit.

The dark god toppled, his upper torso slipping off his legs and crashing into the dessert with a whump. Iskander's elation swiftly died when it laughed. Shadowy inchor grasped the two halves of Angra Mainyu, dragging itself together. It kept laughing, even as its body unsteadily reformed before the eyes of the collective Heroic Spirits.

"Foolish Mortals!" Angra Mainyu's booming cackle rumbled across the plains. "Did you really think you could stop me with such pitiful-!"

A towering western dragon smashed into Angra Mainyu.

* * *

"This is it, men."Archer called out as he and five hundred men appeared in a far off corner of Infinity Library Archives. The sands of Ioninoi Hetairoi rolled beneath their feet. Only desert sands and rainbow colored skies shone in this section of the shared reality marble. The few trees that still existed in part because of the gaps where both reality marbles merged were non-existent in this part.

The transparent towers and bookcases from Infinity Library Archives were randomly flicking in and out of existence, though.

"In a few moments this section of our reality marble will be torn down by an invader." Archer turned to face the calm looking soldiers. "It will be done with raw force." He knew Counter Guardians that well. "It will be overwhelming, but I've given each and every one of you a shield strong enough to handle the intial attack."

The army as a whole held up tower shields and rounded bronze shields under Archer's approving gaze.

"Our goal is simple. We are to survive long enough for me to mend the rip. Then it will be so I can get into range and drag the Counter Guardian further into the Archives. He will be the most ruthless enemy possible. He will summon constant barrages of Noble Phantasms against us." Archer began to pace in front of the army. The army began to bang their spears against the desert sand. "He will not stop if wounded. He will not stop to try to deceive. He will not stop to banter. This will be the purest fight in the entirety of this Holy Grail War."

The crowd began to roar and shout encouragement.

"We will fight and we will bleed so our comrades will not have to do so in our place. We will fight and we will die so innocents do not so so in our place. We will fight and we will win... because we are just that damn good!"

More and more men began to add their voices to the growing cacophony.

"Let me ask you this...are you ready to punch out the motherfucking planet?"

The army as one roared their approval.

Space began to collapse in on itself behind Archer. The white haired man summoned Hou II to his side instantly as he faced the breach.

"Together as one!" Archer shouted.

"_RHO AIAS!_" Hundreds of multihued petals unfolded. Thousands of layers of fortress walls unfolded within the collective petals that were unfurled from within the shields summoned. They were met by unstoppable force as everything went white.

The spearhead of the army's cavalry was sent flying as half of the three thousand petals worth of defensive force, each as large as a fully grown man, were shattered before the screaming tide of energy. The men were buffeted in the face by the dawning rays of the sun and chill winds for the first time in hours. Yet something had entered the area, because more and more petals shattered and men collapsed as some invisible opponent raced into their midst.

The protective barriers they wielded shattered as a storm of steel descended. Swords of all shape and size shattered petal after petal. But their shields weren't the only things that the defenders had in their arsensal as demonstrated by the fact that their opponent was only able to give minor wounds to them. Whenever a Heroic Spirit proved too slow to avoid a fatal gouging, they'd immediately vanish and reappear to regroup with the other soldiers.

Superhuman reflexes, invisibility, and instant teleportation kept the battle fast and furious. Even more swords came down in response to the cavalry's ability to be whisked away out of danger. The two forces were at a stalemate for long, tense moments.

Then the rip showing the park began to draw close.

The defense grew more desperate once that began to happen. The desert around them vanished in large swaths as the swords began to explode either remotely or on contact with their shields. Their raging attacker started to appear as the portal to the outside shrunk to the side of a human head.

Iskander's men now had a target.

...

The mantle of King Arthur was draped across Archer's shoulders as he furiously worked on repairing the rip in space. The invisible hero could already see that Emiya was visible as more and more of the world's influence was shut away. It couldn't be absolutely cut off, though.

There were too many smaller portions of this combined world where Iskander and Archer's souls clashed against each other too much – leaving holes tied to Fuyuki and Gaia behind. Too many tiny ways they were different. The only thing that had allowed the two of them to even fuse their reality marbles in the first place was the nature of Iskander's ability.

So long as Archer worked with the King of Conquerors, he was allowed to deploy his abilty so long as his legend didn't exceed Iskander's own. Sort of arrogant in a way, but Archer wasn't going to complain in the face of events.

Still, the largest rip could be patched up to trip up Emiya. Had to be to do what was needed next.

Archer just hoped he had an army by the time this was all over.

...

Counter Guardian Shirou Emiya was an efficient machine as he tore through countless numbers of Heroic Spirits. With Gaia's backing through Alaya, he was at a level that only a few could ever hope to match.

His two swords, Kanshou and Byakuya, were wet with blood as he cleaved through a battle axe to slash through another enemy. The Hero was whisked away before he could deal the finishing blow, but Shirou Emiya merely flowed into another stance as he parried three spears with monstrous speed before falling back.

Yet the subconscious mind beneath the controlled actions of Alaya's puppet realized that the protections granted by the duty of Counter Guardian had been stripped away. This wasn't anything new to the mind deep within the world's clean up agent, but it always provided a sense of false hope. Even if he fell, he would be instantly revived.

A rain of swords was invoked with a simple thought. The enemy arrayed before the world's agent was far and above what he was normally sent to take down. There were ways to deal with everything, though. Especially for one with abilities such as his.

Alaya's puppet set out to show the world correct in choosing him by flooding the swords in his grasp with prana. Both swords doubled in size as Kanshou and Byakuya shifted into their Overedge forms. The swords grew an ugly and veined like countenance to them as excess steel from the transformation bunched at the back of each sword, growing almost feathered like collections of sharp mass.

Emiya brought the four foot long swords together and shot towards the collected army.

…

"DEEEP STRIIIIKE!" Archer roared as the rip in space and time was sealed. The Heroic Spirit and the soldiers that had been keeping Emiya's focus vanished. The Counter Guardian staggered in place as the main support from Gaia wavered.

Emiya tried to reach out for support. Only a muffled echo reached him under layers of reality.

A wave of arrows and a ballista shot descended from the sky. Countless swords manifested in response as they detonated in the air explosively.

The split second that the Counter Guardian had looked away sealed his fate. Spears, axes, swords, and knives slammed into his shoulders, torso, arms, hands, hips, thighs, legs, and feet. Hammers smashed down into his elbows and knees. The protective armor and holy shroud he wore from his future was rendered meaningless under the power of the various weapons arrayed against him.

But the faces of the soldiers staring at Emiya were...strange.

Despite his actions against them and their friends...they were happy. Their bodies were broken. They were bleeding severely from countless wounds the puppet had caused them. They would most likely lose countless friends due to his direct actions...

But they still smiled at him.

Their weapons merely aimed to disable. The countless injuries Emiya suffered right now was just shy of killing the Counter Guardian immediately.

"Good fight." One of the men fighting Emiya smiled even as he started fading away. "Let's fight again when Lord Iskander brings us back."

Emiya suddenly felt piercing strike run him through from behind. A crystal sword game out of his stomach as a white haired man pressed up his shoulder against Emiya's shoulders.

"Opening secondary magic circuit. _Mirror Road Formation_!" Zelretch shone as both he and the wounded Counter Guardian vanished in a burst of light.

"Good luck." One of the soldiers quietly spoke out to Archer before turning towards the others. "Move out! Lord Iskander needs our aid helping retrieve our allies!" The bellow was carried across the cavalry and archers as they prepared themselves.

The army vanished as they were whisked away by Waver to aid the ongoing battle against Angra Mainyu.

* * *

Angra Mainyu roared in shock as his gaunt arms and slim fingers rose up to grapple with the dragon's claws and burly forearms. The beast's eyes were a startling shade of bluish green. Its deep blue scales shone with a silver tinting to them as several layers of them were layered around the hulking upper body and crystalline purple gemstone in the center of its chest.

"What sorcery is this? There are no more dragons in the world!" The Divine Spirit shouted in pain as the dragon snapped its powerful jaws down onto his shoulder. High pressure prana, manifesting as thick mud, erupted out of the gaping wound around the dragon's fangs. The dragon let out a roar of distaste before releasing Angra Mainyu's shoulder, but whipping him back with its barbed tail before the god could react.

The skies and earth briefly swapped locations before Angra Mainyu's eyes before he was smashed into the earth. The nigh infinite fountain of mana that the god was drawing power from wildly dispersed. The pool of energy refused to fully be tamed no matter how much he tried to force it.

"My dragon seems to have gotten a bit of a power up thanks to Saber!" Caster mocked. The image of the dragon wavered for a few moments. In those few seconds, the robed witch was shown surrounded with an aura of flame that radiated outwards in the rough shape of the dragon. "The Colchis dragon is no mere wyrm anymore!"

The image solidfied once again into the original dragon. The Phantasm Beast snarled down at Angra Mainyu. Its jaws opened wide to reveal a gout of raw prana begin to gather within its maw.

"Damn you!" Angra Mainyu raged as he brought both of his wings upwards as a screen.

The great beast breated out a conical blast of raw energy. The force of the backlash caused even the Colchis dragon to spread its leathery wings wide and brace itself from being shot backwards from recoil.

The target, Angra Mainyu, was helpless to resist the force as he was sent skidding painfully across the desert sands. The cone of prana annihilated his wings and the forces he was being hammered with shattered his bones as the sands sliced through his flesh.

"What's wrong? Can't stand the pressure?" Caster's voice mocked.

Angra Mainyu roared as his body began to draw on new reserves of power. The wounds on its body began to mend faster as he dove at the massive dragon. Both titans locked limbs once again as Iskander, leading the Heroic Spirits in saving their allies now that Angra Mainyu was distracted, began to prepare a counter attack.

…

"Snap out of it, Ilya!" Shirou rapidly fell back under the empty eyed girl's attacks. Deadly waves of mud, being wielded like living whips, sliced through the air around the redhead as he tried his hardest to prevent being struck. Several deep lacerations burned across his tanned skin where the material had connected and burned through his clothing towards his flesh.

The hill they were on trembled as two battling giants rolled nearby. Angra Mainyu had deep white gouges along his body as a bluish silver dragon smashed its claws into his body.

"Master...!" Ilya's eyes widened. The crimson streaks along her body flared in response to his proximity.

The Grand Holy Grail behind her shimmered before firing several streams of mud towards the two. The dragon was smashed off Angra Mainyu and sent tumbling off into the distance. The mud that splashed the Divine Spirit instantly began to mend his wounds.

Angra Mainyu flared its restored wings wide before rising. With a hard beat of its restored limbs, it tore off towards the dragon. The opportunity presented itself there for Shirou to charge with all his speed. He swung the flat of the naginata's blade at Ilya.

Only to cry in pain as dark prana surged up the weapon out of nowhere.

From there it coursed into his body as the weapon connected with an intangible barrier. Shirou's cries were halted as he was launched ten feet away by a gesture on the part of Ilya. The silver haired teenager lowered her arm as she gazed at Shirou from within the flickering magic circle.

"Shirou...we're in two different worlds now." Ilya murmured. She moved towards him, but the same barrier sprang up and repelled her backwards. Her pale hand, marked with angry red veins, pressed up against the barrier as it spewed dark energy into her body.

"Ilya!" Shirou groaned as he attempted to crawl up to his knees.

"Run..." Ilya's second hand rose and pressed up against the walls as smoke rose from her blackening hands. The pitch black dress she was wearing slithered about her frame.

Pristine white skin appeared in the center of the burnt flesh and rippled outwards. Only to then be burnt anew as Ilya continued to press her hands and then forehead up against the field to gaze at him. "Run away, Shirou. I...I can't stop myself."

"Stop!" The redhead stumbled to his feet. He tripped over his own legs as he moved towards her. "Stop hurting yourself!"

The mud writhing around the circle began to rise again.

"What can you do, Shirou? I'll destroy you if you get near!"

A series of gunshots rang out. Both Ilya and Shirou went still as the Grail's corruption broke apart in wet splats.

Kiritsugu lowered his submachinegun. "Don't rule out the adults, children."

"Papa...?" Ilya stumbled backwards from the barrier.

A looming spider rose behind him, "Well, maybe it's because we don't have the air of reliability about us?" Taiga's voice called out. The spider was simultaneously sent flying in two opposite directions as the woman landed next to her husband. Iskander's sword gleamed bloodily in her grasp.

"Mama!" The silver haired girl's eyes widened as her eyes began to slowly lighten.

The Grand Holy Grail behind her trembled.

Ilya screamed as the magic circle she was standing within flared, surging dark prana up her body, and causing her to collapse to her feet. A strange bellow echoed down from beneath the earth as countless amounts of Grail mud rose around her.

"Urobuchi-kun-!" Kiritsugu snapped over to Shirou. His body blurred as he reinforced his speed with Double Accel as he vanished from their time plane.

Taiga concluded, "Match our timing!" She shouted as she tore around from the opposite side.

Shirou threw open his magic circuits. The power radiated outwards from all of the circuits he possessed began to trigger one of the two gifts that Archer had left him. The palm of his left hand began to swiftly gain luminiscience as he tore straight down the middle.

The ground trembled as the grail mud threw itself at their charge.

…

"Men...at your positions!" Iskander roared at the top of his lungs. Massive seige weapons were arrayed around the valley where Angra Mainyu battled with the dragon. The weapons gleamed in the rising rays of the sun as the skies of Infinity Library Archives began to fade unnoticed by anyone's eyes.

"Artillery ready!" Waver announced from a unraveling holographic window. Miyu and Ilyasviel's worried faces appeared behind him. "We only have one attempt to do this!"

The massive weapons rumbled as they rolled down the sandy earth.

"One shot is all I need!" Iskander retorted, gesturing at the two figures locked in mortal combat far below. The projectiles on the transparent catapaults began to glow with prana as Saver drew up all the power in the earth that was left. Sakura moulded the energy as it rose to soak into the stones and arrows. "Are you ready, little miss?"

"Do it!" Rin's voice sounded strained.

Iskander pointed straight at the struggling titans with the ghostly Totsuka no Tsuguri. "Then let us summon the holy mountain! FIRE!"

The weapons they had been provided by Archer shattered as the world shifted. The bookcases and towers vanished with the rainbow skies. The skies were filled by massive boulders which began to gravitate towards each other in an every growing mass.

...

'Wake up.'

Saber gasped as she woke. She was dressed in her blue and white dress as she sat seiza position as she slumped up against a kotatsu in a tiny room. The ground, walls, and ceiling were all covered with lines of circuitry which all ran down towards her position and glowed with a crimson light in time to the beating of her heart.

The room was closed off in every direction except straight ahead. A small window was there - revealing the furious face of Angra Mainyu. The entire room shook as he slammed his entire body up against the point of view provided by the window.

Pieces of the ceiling flaked off and fell on Saber's table.

"Where...?" Saber mumbled. The fog in her head lifted as she realized who the voice was. "Caster?" She looked down and saw that her dress was now only a little bit dirty. Her body felt well rested.

"...huh?" Saber's eyes widened as the view outside was growing increasingly dark. "Wait-!"

'I...really love Kuzuki. I'd do everything in the world to keep him safe.' Caster muttered as silver blue claws rended through Angra Mainyu's body. 'Have you ever felt that way before...? I guess it doesn't matter.' The room shook once again. 'I think all that matters is the actions you show the world, right?'

A high pitched whistling began to echo.

"What's going on?" Saber knocked the kotatsu aside as she rose to her feet.

'I'll send you back to your Master. Protect him with all your might, okay?' Caster's voice sounded so young and carefree.

"Wait!" The room began to fade away.

Hot desert winds blew against Saber's face as she was greeted by open blue skies. Two massive titans clashed high above her. The silver dragon had deep cuts all along its body and was missing its left wing, but it was silent.

In contrast, Angra Mainyu looked healthy and hale, but was struggling and shouting his fury as he unleashed wild strikes on the silver dragon. The reason for his desperation was made apparent as Saber looked up at what had shadowed everything.

A mountain sized white comet was swiftly descending.

"Caster-!" The blonde began to plummet as she felt her arm rise instinctively towards he dragon. It glanced up at Saber with clear blue eyes.

'Thank you...for beliving in me.' Those blue eyes flashed. Saber found herself surrounded in a sphere of blue light. '_Trofa!_'

Space warped around Saber as the sphere she was locked in was fired straight towards the Grand Holy Grail.

"No! I won't have it end like this!" A white slash ripped across Angra Mainyu's neck as a crimson sphere of light was explosively projected out after Saber. The dragon's prana breath was too late to stop the god's final play, but the flames scored a direct hit on Angra Mainyu's face, irregardless.

Caster closed her eyes as the temporary form she had been granted with Saber's help began to dissipate. 'Kuzu-'

The mountain descended

…

"Stay back!" Ilya shrieked. The silver haired girl furiously shook her head as more and more of Angra Mainyu's power rose in response to the trio. "He'll kill you!"

Kiritsugu flickered into sight long enough to fling a grenade into the wave of mud. The force of the explosion scattered the majority of it as he vanished. Only to reappear in another spot and opening fire on the corruption with his submachinegun.

The tentacles shot immediately went rigid and shattered like glass.

"Hyaaaa!" Taiga roared as she used Iskander's sword to tear a path ahead for Shirou. Her motions were smooth and skilled as the gleaming sword blurred as she spearheaded the charge. The brunette was a blur as she zigged in and out of Shirou's line of sight.

Shirou vaulted over a pool of the noxious material. He simply grit his teeth and barreled straight ahead. The little bit of Angra Mainyu's power that connected with him wasn't nearly enough to deter him as he headed in a straight line towards Ilya.

"Ngh...?" Taiga felt a pulse of pain race through her body. Her speed dramatically decreased as she pulled evenly next to Shirou. Sweat began to bead down her forehead and the back of her neck as she felt exhausation begin to creep up on her.

She knew what this meant...the reinforcement was running out.

Another wave of Angra Mainyu's power tried to sweep the two human's feet out beneath them. Taiga stumbled as she landed. Her arms swiftly lashed out and grasped Shirou by his right arm as she placed Iskander's sword in his left hand.

"Neechan!" Shirou yelped as Taiga lifted him up bodily.

"Go!" Taiga shouted as she used the last of her superhuman power to fling him and the sword towards Ilya. The brunette collapsed to a knee as she felt her body lock up with her exertions throughout the last hour. "Hee...guess I'm too old for this kind of stuff." She panted.

Mud began to rise around Taiga.

"Guess...I don't get to give you a little brother, Ilya-chan." Taiga sighed as the mud came lancing down towards her.

"Mother!" Ilya shrieked as she slapped her hands over her mouth.

"Taiga!" Shirou shouted as he tried to look back. A large mass of Angra Mainyu's mud greeted his gaze. He felt a pang of sadness constricted his heart as he rose high above the rest of the tentacles as he descended towards Ilya.

The sword in Shirou's hands emitted a sharp golden light as it began to twist and transform in his grip.

The ground around Ilya shattered as a countless numbers of black arrow heads shot up at Shirou. Ilya screamed as she closed her eyes.

Kiritsugu appeared less than five feet away from Ilya. A clear path appeared for Shirou as hundreds of frozen arrowheads came crashing back to the earth. The Magus Killer simultaneously discarded his smoking submachine gun and drew his Thompson Contender.

It was aimed straight at Ilya.

"Pa...pa?" Ilya froze.

Kiritsugu closed his eyes as he fired.

…

The streaking bolts of blue and red light slammed against each other. Sparks of golden light danced away from the two spheres as they rebounded and regained their flight patterns. Each of the spheres attempted to outrace the other on finding that they couldn't just knock the other aside with brute strength.

The red sphere came slamming down on the hillside, short of where the Grand Holy Grail rested. Rising out of the impact crater, a pitch black and muscular, ten foot humanoid with six arms stood tall. It turned its horned, oval shaped face to stare at the oncoming blue sphere, and three pitted, blood red holes representing its eyes narrowed as time slowed down for it.

One of its limbs shot out in a blur, reaching into the depths of the blue sphere as it attempted to overtake it. Saber struggled against the hold of the limb as she was dragged out of the blue sphere by her neck. The bones began to creak as the giant silently exerted greater amounts of pressure...

But only the sound of metal sinking into flesh answered the demon.

It jerked forwards as a bronze handaxe slammed in between its shoulders. The demon glanced back at the person who had challenged him and was geeted by a flaming mane.

The giant's head rocked back as Iskander landed back on his feet from his jump to smash his forehead into the demon's face. The monster staggered backwards in a daze as Iskander's troops appeared around them.

"Let her go!" Iskander hammered a tightly clenched fist into the demon's torso. The black giant bent forwards around the King of Conqueror's fist long enough for Iskander to rear back and lightly kiss the demon's chin with his other fist.

Saber whipped out of the demon's grasp as it flipped up into the air. Both she and the demon came slamming down into the earth at the same time. The sands beneath them began to transform back into dead earth as the heat began to die down.

"Iska-!" Saber grasped as she leapt to her feet.

"Go! I'll use the last dredges of energy in my reality marble to keep him busy!" Iskander rushed past her towards the demon. Saber gazed back at the two larger than life figures. The demon and King of Conquerors were trading fierce blows back and forth underneath a golden sky.

Saber turned and dashed away.

…

Kiritsugu's bullet soared past Ilya's temple as it tore into his daughter's long and luxurious hair. The final barrier shattered. He let the empty Thompson Contender drop from nerveless fingers as he kept his dark eyes focused on Ilya's own startled eyes.

Shirou descended with a glowing divine sword. His left hand flared as he invoked the aria, "_'I am the __blade to banish all evil...'_"

Kiritsugu closed his eyes as he prepared to kill his heart. If one must die to save the world...then he would be prepared to sacrifice that life. It was the Path of the Asura. The needs of the many before the few.

"Goodbye, Ilya-chan." So why did he only taste ash now?

"Good...bye." Ilya whispered.

"_'And I've come to see you annihilated!'_" The divine sword forced both of Shirou's arms to swing downwards.

Time slowed to a crawl...

'_Just…keep an open mind and heart. Please take care of those that you love._' Someone that had and hadn't been Ilya whispered the secret words to him.

He remembered the words of Kiritsugu Emiya...

"_All of them are coming in with a wish that they want granted. Most of them are so desperate that they are will to sacrifice many to gain their wish. I know you're a reasonably kind person beneath all your bluster, but you have to be willing to kill if it means surviving." _

Kill or be killed...

"_Then I acknowledge you as a Hero of Justice." _

Angra Mainyu would kill them all...

So he had to kill [̸̙͓̯̖̣̪͛̊̓̈́̌́I̴̛̮̭̦̔̽͢l͖̝̱͖̞̗̼ͭͬ̊̈́͜͡y̧̙͖̩͙̬̭͙͊͒ͥ̄͜͝ȃ̛̮̺͔ͤͯ̉ͥ͆̆]͇̙͍̅́ to stop him...?

'No!' The sword flared as kaleidoscopic light shone from his left hand. The weapon bent in on itself as sharp edges rounded. One divine weapon shifted into another. From sword to...

"_MIZUKI – CRAFT OF THE FAITHFUL!_" A hand held cross was sent screaming down towards Ilya. The tool of exorcisms and purification slammed into the silver haired girl. Angra Mainyu's power, derived from a devil, clashed against a conceptual weapon from the Roman Catholic Church as the darkness covering Ilya burned with silver fire.

Shirou landed on the ground just as Ilya collapsed to her side. The light in Ilya's eyes completely returned as the two opposing forces annihilated themselves in a burst of golden light. The magic circle and the mud in the area shattered into chalky gray dust as Kiritsugu collapsed to his knees in front of Ilya in shock.

"Ilya!" Shirou yelled as he threw himself at the silver haired girl.

A joyful smile crossed Ilya's face as she rose to her feet. "S-shirou!" She took a few halting steps towards the redhead.

"Shirou! We have to destroy the Grail now!" Saber's voice quickly drew everyone's attention. The blonde was rushing directly up to Shirou with Taiga in her arms.

This let Shirou see the howling shadow that towered behind Saber. Yet as he reacted to its presence, he could see the dark god losing definition with each frenzied step. Still, even in an all out dash...

'They won't make it!' The command seals on the back of Shirou's hand flared to life with that thought, even as his body instinctively rushed forward to intercept them. One of the two remaining command seals vanished as the redhead used his second miracle.

"_**Dodge!**_"

* * *

Desperation fueled Angra Mainyu as he chased after the Heroic Spirit and her mortal ward. No longer fueled by the prana of the homunculus, he could feel his physical manifestation being drawn back into the Grand Holy Grail. His body withered and atrophied with each torturous step, slowly reverting back to the weakened form of Servant Avenger.

He thrust for the fleeing Servant before him, his bone-thin limbs trembling in hunger. If he could feed off her, he could maintain himself just a moment longer. Another step further, and he could almost taste her sweet...

"_**Dodge!**_"

Inwardly, he roared in fury as his prey suddenly vanished from his sight, his outstretched arm catching nothing but air as he blurred past where his prey had been.

Only to register another mortal standing in his path. A wet squelch filled the air.

"SHIROU!"

…

Shirou's eyes widened in surprised, staring at the jet black arm that had embedded itself into his chest. Blood bubbled from his lips, even as Avalon activated to keep him alive, and he followed the arm up to stare at Angra Mainyu's featureless face. A task that was getting remarkably simpler as the dark god continued to shrink before his eyes.

He felt a pull from his Odic stores. To his astonishment, Angra Mainyu's face split into a grin. Sludge peeled away from the weakened god's face, revealing Shirou's own face leering back at him.

**"I thank you for your contribution."** Angra Mainyu taunted with a dark laugh. It's leer stumbled when Shirou returned it with his own vicious smile, and suddenly twisted the dark god into a grappling lock. **"What are you doing?"**

"Sorry, asshole. The bank's not giving out loans." Shirou smirked, even as he felt the dark god's corruption beginning to devour him. "Saber! You have to finish this while I can still hold him!" he called, seeing the faces of his loved ones staring. Taiga and Kiritsugu were staring at the places they had collapsed earlier, their voices refusing to work as they watched the proceedings in horror. Ilya's body was trembling, his name repeatedly falling from her lips.

Saber's own hands wavered hesitantly, her head shaking in denial. "Shirou, I... I can't..."

Shirou smiled despite himself, feeling the world fade until it was simply her, him, and the desperately struggling Angra Mainyu. "I'm sorry I couldn't make you happier than anyone. I've been hoping we could be together longer," he admitted. Saber sucked in a breath, listening to his words almost reverently. However, they both knew they had a duty to fulfill. No matter how either felt, to ignore it would be wrong.

"It should have been me." Tears fell freely now from Saber's eyes as she kept them locked on Shirou's. The boy who had, since she met him, overturned her perceptions of the modern age, inspired her, and made her evaluate what she had been taught. The boy who now stood before her, who was still ready to fight despite his own mortal wounds.

The boy she found herself falling in love with.

Seeing the determination in his eyes, Saber felt her hesitation weaken. She just couldn't allow herself... to stain his pride.

"Saber. Please," Shirou called softly, drawing her out of her thoughts. Saber felt her trembling hands still as she nodded. She had a duty to fulfill.

"With this, everything has ends, yes?" Saber asked, and called upon her Noble Phantasm. Prana surged into Excalibur, wreathing the blade with divine light.

**"No! Stop this! You cannot do this!" **Angra Mainyu roared in defiance, still trapped in Shirou's vice like grip.

Shirou chuckled softly, his reinforced and blackening body holding the dark god in place. "Yeah. This is the end."

"As your sword, I have defeated all your enemies." Saber couldn't claim to have protected him, but he still smiled gratefully to her. "I am glad that I have been able to fulfill this oath."

"Yeah, you did well."

**"Don't do it!"**

"I need to tell you something before its too late." Saber raised Excalibur, the sword singing its oath in the glare of the rising sun. She couldn't let things go without telling him... "Shirou, I... I love you." He smiled at her, his face aglow in the light of dawn. Her sword descended, drowning out Angra Mainyu's screams as well as Shirou's answer.

As the sun shown down on a new day, Saber felt a small twinge at missing Shirou's parting words.

"Yeah... that's how it goes." Saber murmured sadly, Excalibur dropping from nerveless fingers.

* * *

And in a distant area of the battle field, Zelretch silently appeared before Rin Tohsaka's watering eyes as the Reality Marble fell around them

* * *

_Wise Up!_

**All processes halted. Installing new hardware. Progress 42%**


	20. Chapter 20

Fate/Zero is the property of Type-Moon and Nitroplus. Fate/Stay Night is the property of Type-Moon. All additional references and parodies belong to their respective owners.

Epilogue

A vast sea of bookcases hovered in the skies above. The bookcases were a patch work of polished wood filled with leather bound books, and electronic panels with glowing circuitry etched around and within.

Grass grew downwards from the ceiling the bookcases tightly clung onto. It was wild and chaotic growth that spawned a jungle in certain sections of the library and choked both the bookcases and towering towers in those sections.

Other parts of the skies were dominated by patches of desert where sand trickles down towards him like an hourglass.

The black holes that Archer used as methods of transportation for his books into and out of the library were unaffected by the reversed gravity as they hovered between the rows of bookcases. Ancient, modern, and yet to be written tomes fluttered about under their own power away from the black holes. Some of them even flew down lower to see the clashing duo.

Both Archer and Emiya met in a clash of weapons. The Counter Guardian's favored swords met the golden ringed tip of a long staff Urobuchi was tightly holding within his arms. The thinner of the two men gave way to the Counter Guardian's strength, though.

'Damn, what a monster!' Archer threw himself into the depths of a thick, cottony white cloud to try and avoid the Counter Guardian. Yet the man's sharp gray eyes wouldn't be deceived that easily, and the rain of swords began in earnest again.

He had known that Emiya had great power ever since they had met, but this much was simply ridiculous!

The air screeched as the shifting silver ground holding them over an abyss of starry skies shattered beneath the strikes. Archer's form was a blur as he raced ahead of the silver path. His figure cut through muggy and cold clouds alike as he raced ahead of the damaged ground.

Emiya rushed after his target. He reared his arms back and flung both Kanshou and Byakuya towards Archer at amazing speeds.

Archer refused to look backwards. He blinked moisture out of his face and kept rushing through the clouds. The two blades provided a nice contrast with the faint sounds of thunder that were building up in the distance.

A black bow and an odd looking sword appeared in both of his freed hands. Moments later, the swords transformed into a jet black arrow with a barbed tip that warped around its middle in a spiral.

Archer felt the golden ringed staff he was carrying slam itself hard into the silver path. His arm jerked against his control as the weapon remained embedded in the ground. Not having any time to try and persuade it differently, he allowed it to remain there.

The thunder grew louder.

The cloud he rushed into rumbled ominously as he entered it. The cloud's white color began to swiftly darken as he felt the heat of Kanshou and Byakuya at his back. The two weapons began to glow as they swung deep into the cloud after Archer.

Yet they came to an explosive halt as Archer was propelled upwards as a flood of books. Thunder flashed across the heavens as all the clouds along the same level as Archer and Emiya began to pour a wave of books up towards the library above.

Archer whooped as he gripped onto several hardcover books as he rose. The collection of books he was holding onto were gathered more in the shape of a large vine than a normal downpour. Several of them affectionately rubbed against his back and shoulders as they rose upwards.

The Counter Guardian wobbled unsteadily on his feet. Several of the books pouring out of the clouds reached around to smack into him. His shooting stance was only thrown off a smidgen, though. The black arrow, which was now glowing bloody red, was fired as a wall of books smashed into him and lifted him up after Archer.

The arrow let out a shrill whistle as it launched itself like a rocket directly at Archer. The weapon began to emit enough light to cause Urobuchi to raise a hand to block out the harsh red light. His heart began to rapidly beat in his chest as he waited until the last moment and leapt off the rising waterfall of books.

The crimson bolt flashed into the books. Its form lost amongst the thick texts, but several loud thuds echoed in the skies. Moments later, the bolt of light erupted out the other end as it twisted towards Archer as he descended.

The air furiously whipped Urobuchi's hair about as he fell down.

'Crap! Crapcrapcrap! Stupid staff! Why do you have to be so uppity?' Archer paled as his vision caught a familiar Counter Guardian.

Emiya had managed to right himself by now as he got up to his knees on the more solid leather platform he was rising upwards on. The puppet of Alaya staggered towards the edge of his ride. He summoned forth another gleaming sword on confirming that Archer was still alive. Emiya swiftly transformed the sword into another arrow and let the weapon fly.

Archer's hand swung outwards. A thick string of energy fired from his hands straight at the rising tower of books Emiya was riding on. It snagged onto a thick encylopedia before going taut. The momentum of the tower caused Archer's downwards plummet to transform into a high speed swing towards the face of the torrent of books.

Several of the strands on his head were sheared off by the high speed sword arrow launched by Emiya, but the threat wasn't completely halted as the crimson bolt kept doggedly chasing after him. Urobuchi let out an ululating yell as his feet briefly alighted onto the surface of the tower of books before racing sideways around the tower.

The prana string lengthed and the tower reformed beneath his feet into a stable platform as Archer led the crimson arrow on a merry chase. The Counter Guardian wasn't phased at all as he rushed from one side of the tower to another. Lacking enough time to prepare another homing weapon, he simply fired high speed steel arrows from transformed swords.

Arrows whizzed past Archer as he and the Counter Guardian swiftly left the abyss far below them. Their tower broke through thicker clouds as it rose up to the library. Explosions rocked and made the tower sway from side to side as the force of the arrows fired by Emiya made parts of it collapse. Paper and leather fluttered away.

Urobuchi heard the screaming missle behind him steadily catch up. He furiously kept releasing more prana to extend the silver string keeping him tethered to the tower. The magus' awareness of the books within the tower told him that his goal was almost in sight. The side of the tower blurred as Archer focused prana into his legs to increase his speed.

An ancient looking manuscript slid out from the walls of tower. The thin white pages fluttered, revealing thin print that had been pressed into the worn material by wooden blocks long ago. High above, Emiya's eyes narrowed as he spotted the solitary book rise with his powerful vision. The Counter Guardian swung his bow towards that section of the tower as he began to gather prana within his next arrow.

Archer's own sight, not nearly as strong as Emiya's own, was only able to see the gathering prana high at the top of the tower. His speed doubled as he raced towards the manuscript. The crimson missle chasing after him continued its dogged pursuit.

Emiya's projectile twanged from his bow, a streak of blue light screaming down towards the manuscript.

'No!' Urobuchi shouted as he bunched his legs and dove. The prana string was abandoned in his haste as he rushed towards the paperback as he reached out with his mind. The book, now highlighted in blue from the proximity of the latest of Emiya's attacks, erupted out from the solid wall of books and slammed into Archer's outstretched hands.

The blue missile explosively detonated. The surrounding section of the tower was pulped into burning shreds of paper and it unleashed a shockwave strong enough to throw Archer away from the tower. The stalker after him harmlessly sped into the flaming cloud of debris and out the other side before turning away from the wall of the tower and shooting down towads the plummeting magus.

The Counter Guardian raised a hand and gestured towards Archer even as he wobbled. The tower beneath his feet shifted and groaned as it pitched from one side to another dangerously as the chunk of the tower blown away ruined the buildings stability.

A rain of steel swords shone above Emiya's head before firing themselves down towards Urobuchi.

The magus's head rang from the force of the explosion as he briefly hugged the manuscript of Journey to the West to his chest. He shook his head angrily as he blinked the spots in his vision away. Archer fed prana into his eyes as the blurring in his surroundings from the high speed fall vanished. The nooks in the tower he was falling parallel to were ignored for now.

It'd do no good to try and swing in with that missile at his back.

Urobuchi could feel where the temperamental gold ringed iron staff was still stubbornly remaining, though. With a smirk, he allowed the manuscript in his arms to transform. The paperback glowed with a holy aura as the words within it were drawn out by Archer. The power of the reality marble around him fed into the book as the paper shifted into an golden headband.

"_Jin Gu Zhou – O__ṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ__!_" Urobuchi let the headband fly from his hands towards his target. The headband transformed into a golden discus with the speed it was thrown at as it soared towards the golden ringed staff. The weapon embedded down on the silver path alone, seemingly recognizing what was going to happen, swiftly levitated itself and appeared to try to get away, but the headband was coming in too fast.

The headband slammed down around the tip of the staff. From there it spun towards the middle and visibly shrunk as it contracted around the weapon.

"Gotcha, asshole! Now, help me out, _Ruyi Jingu Bang_!" Archer demanded. The golden headband tightly squeezing the staff gleamed at the command. In the blink of an eye, the black iron staff tore past Archer and smashed straight into the crimson missile in between the magus and the tower of books. From there, the weapon blurred and began to exponentially grow as it barreled through the sword rain.

Emiya's eyes widened as a hundred meter wide wall of steel came slamming into him and firing him upwards the rest of the way towards the library above. Bookcases were smashed in half and a small hut made out of books was knocked down to the grassy ground as the Counter Guardian found himself in a hole thirty feet deep.

Urobuchi's descent halted at the same moment. Instead he began to ascend. Recognizing what was going to happen next, he used the transfer in momentum to flip his body a hundred and eighty degrees in orientation.

As he started descending towards the library floor which was now 'below'. The willful staff shrunk and spun into his hand as it helpfully extended to smash into a pile of sand in the desert section of the library as he was slowly lowered down.

Tattered books and pieces of covers scattered down around Archer, but a single thought mended them so they could descend with the rest of their brethen at a faster speed that the white haired man wanted to take.

…

A faint buzzing and heavy static filled the Counter Guardian's hearing as he stumbled. He tried to get to his feet once again, but the power that had been filling him up until now was draining out. The amount of energy also began to dim.

Emiya heard a grinding sound beneath. He turned his gray eyes to gaze down on the ground below to see he was resting on a cracking rainbow cog. It attempted to shift beneath him again and released another grinding noise.

The puppet tensed as a loud crack filled his ears. The ground made a rumbling noise before giving way beneath him. Pieces of rainbow colored steel drifted around him. The Counter Guardian's hesistant attempt at analyzing it made the static in his ears worse so he tried to ignore it as the stars above grew even more distant.

The pit he was finding himself falling down had walls with rainbow colored circuitry along the bedrock. Any of his attempts to stop his descent by pressing his limbs or body up against the walls were rebuffed as powerful blasts of prana shocked his limbs away. Eventually the pit dramatically widened as Emiya came crashing down on a slopped hill over looking a massive cavern with a bright blue river coursing along in the shape of what appeared to be a gear.

This central river had smaller ones running out from it.

Emiya's attempts at sharpening his gaze were also unsuccessful. Only the river revealed itself in the otherwise dark cavern. His sense of hearing could hear what appeared to be hundreds or thousands of consecutive thuds in the distance. Emiya set that thought in the back of his head as he created his weapons once again and began to descend the hill in search of his target.

At the base of the hill a large collection of books were lying in a pile. More slithered on top of the pile from what appeared to be a black hole hovering over them. The interior of the hole drew Emiya's eyes hypnotically as strange lights flickered within. Green, purple, and orange were the predominate ones that appeared more often than not.

It switched to orange.

"Ook." A soft and curious grunt reached his ears from within the hole. The Counter Guardian felt himself being repelled backwards from the pile of books moments later as tiny creatures shot out from within the books fast enough to crack the air.

The central river glowed.

The amount of kinetic force within the ...worms sent Emiya flying backwards and tumbling head over rear as his swords were sent clattering away from his body. The Counter Guardian eventually came to a stop at the feet of a long, tall and rail thin humanoid. Only a white slash along the edges of his neck was clearly visible.

It reached a hand down towards Emiya's head. The figure's curly fingers and an abnormally long arm were repelled by the Counter Guardian's summoned rain of swords. There were far less of them this time than expected, though.

They came crashing into the bizarely thin humanoid. It raised its long arms up to protect its head. The constant blows ripping through its body caused it to stumble backwards. The dark figure vanished into the all consuming darkness.

Emiya breathed hard.

His prana hadn't been replenished with that last attack.

…

The desert section of Infinity Library Archives was muggy. Archer felt sweat running down his face as he stood within a magic circle. Dozens of holographic windows were arranged around him, but he kept his gaze locked on the central image.

Emiya was currently trapped in the deepest part of the Archives.

The magus glanced at a side window and saw the willful staff was moving around for another pass at the Counter Guardian. 'Well, just as long as you keep him down there.' The inner core of Zelretch was reacting to the spell that was streaming across the main window as words vanished from the windows around him.

Another layer was added to the magic circle the magus stood within as each of the windows closed once the words within were erased. Archer glanced up at the crystalline tower. Its interior lit up as it powered up. The circuitry running along the ground began glow with rainbow light as it carried pulses of white light from his magic circle into the tower.

'Oh man, this is going to suck, isn't it?' Archer thought. He looked towards one of the windows. It was currently showing an image of himself. Well, more like Emiya, walking out into a wasteland alongside Ilya to recover the Holy Grail from the Serpent of Akasha. The image of it broke up into text that began to be erased as it began to flow into the magic circle.

The magus grimaced as he felt another large chunk of his prana vanish with that little stunt, but he was finally done.

'Up to you now, bro.' The magus thought to the staff. He reached out towards Shirou. Archer nearly retched as he felt Angra Mainyu slam into him and Infinity Library Archives through the connection. The remainder of his own personal store of power flared. His skin split as lines of kaleidoscopic light raced along his body as prana surged out like an aura from his body.

The Second Magic, surging in the depths of his soul, responded to his call.

"_**SPIN ON!**_"

All the towers in the jungle lit up together as Archer's eyes glowed golden as he reached through Avenger and Shirou towards his goal.

…

The black tower within the Grand Holy Grail shuddered as its coating shattered to reveal silver. The black and red oceans drew away from the tower. The top of the tower shone as it began to broadcast a message to humanity.

…

Kiritsugu kept a firm hold on Taiga as both adults silently watched their daughter. The woman looked ashen as her body trembled ever so faintly as Kiritsugu squeezed her in a supportive hug.

'Hero of Justice...' Kiritsugu distastefully thought.

"W-why..." Ilya stuttered. Tears ran down her eyes as she stepped towards the collapsing Grand Holy Grail. Saber silently moved in her way, but allowed her to see the last remains of the tower evaporate in the golden sun.

Ilya's arm raised up towards it as it completely vanished. Saber placed her hands supportingly on the older looking girl's shoulders. Saber's green eyes shimmered with restrained moisture as well. Saber and Ilya however blinked and glanced towards the direction of the temple on the outridges of town.

Taiga's trembling stilled.

Kiritsugu dark eyes sharpened slightly.

Ilya's eyes lit up. "Shirou!" She clutched to her father's jacket as she started racing away. Both Taiga and glanced at each other before joining their daughter. The blonde took a hiss of air through her chapped lips before rushing up to Ilya.

"Where?" The blonde demanded.

"I'll lead the way!" Ilya responded. Saber swept her up in her arms as the duo raced ahead of Taiga and Kiritsugu.

The two of them came across a heavily winded and bruised Iskander at the base of the hill. The dried out and hollow trees around the area were completely shattered. The man had a lively grin and sparkle in his eyes, though.

Both Saber and Ilya paused in front of Iskander in shock.

"Never met a man I couldn't defeat. Now I guess I can say the same about the gods." The redhead cracked his bloody knuckles. "Where are you two heading to?"

"Ryuudou Temple! Tell everyone we're going to get Shirou!" Ilya frantically demanded.

"But Ilya, he vanished after we took it down..."

"He's there! Trust me!"

Iskander blinked. He turned speculative eyes towards where the grail stood and slowly smiled. "So he helped take it down, did he?" He murmured. "Excellent! I'll gather Master once we stabilize Lancer, Caster, and Berserker, then!"

Saber and Ilya vanished in a blur of speed.

…

"Bitch!" Kaede Makidera cursed as she was gunned down in a blaze of pixellated gore on her computer monitor once again. The tanned teenager angrily shuffled her thick blankets around her. She shifted in her white t-shirt and long pajama bottoms as she glared over at the Kane Himuro's username. She tiredly reached up to her sore eyes and tried to rub slightly more awareness.

Kaede heard Kane Himuro's responding chuckle through the headseat she wore. "I've been kicking your ass all night. Not going to stop now? It's already dawn."

"No! Besides, there's no school for now!" Kaede angrily responded. She ignored as the scores finally finished up scrolling across the screen. "Let's do this again! I'm going to own your nerdy face!"

Kane laughed. "Don't be angry with me because your Counterstrike boyfriend ditched you."

"Waver isn't like that! He's like...ancient!" Kaede shuddered. The foreigner had stayed in the neighborhood a long time ago and made friends with everyone before going back to England. "He's like...an uncle!"

"Hm. So, what do you think caused the earthquake?" Kaede wondered. "It went really quiet in the neighborhood afterwards."

"Dunno. Does it matter?" Kane grumped. Stupid jerks shouting all night. She was glad she lived on her own.

Both started up the next round. However, they set their controllers down as both of them glanced off in the direction of Ryuudou Temple.

"Shirou?" Both blinked.

…

Arihiko Inui and Yukika Saegusa found themselves neck deep in Yakuza as the two finally woke up from dreamless slumbers. Their backs were pressed up against the wall of wide hall. In front of them was the slumbering and bandaged up form of Otoko Hotaruzuka.

Several more people like Arihiko and Yukika were being handed blankets as they were brought into the hall to rest. Several groans could be heard from the rooms along the hallway. Both Yukika and Arihiko glanced out of the window to gaze on the rising sun.

Arihiko shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Yukika worriedly asked. The quiet girl had clung to him until they had stumbled across a group of Yakuza. Strangely enough, Arihiko got the strongest sensation he wasn't needed to find Miyu at the same time they ran into them.

"The static...it's gone." Arihiko didn't feel like mentioning that he could faintly feel something that sounded like Miyu's humming in the strange void that had descended on the city, though.

"Aah, I'm glad!" Yukika's small smile dipped off her face. Her eyebrows knit as she hesistantly glanced off towards the west. "Shi...rou?"

Arihiko had no such compulsions as his eyes widened. "Who the fuck is Emiya?" He blurted as he blinked in surprise.

…

In another part of the same mansion, four haggard teenagers shared the same thought of Arihiko as well.

…

The Counter Guardian stumbled as the back of his leg was grazed by a high speed sphere of elemental magic. The field around the sphere kept it from being fatal as it practically molded itself to the back of his leg as it passed. His mucles convulsed as pain nearly made him fall face first.

Emiya frantically summoned an ever decreasing amount of blades as he raced away from an ever encroaching wave of multicolored light. The swords and spheres of energy met in mutual destructive fashion as the darkened caverns lit up by violent and large number of explosions.

More and more crystal shards were generated from the purple hued blackhole in response though. The Counter Guardian's prana he had received from Alaya was nearly bottoming completely out as he was herded towards the center of the cavern.

Another wave of elemental attacks came at him from another angle.

Emiya's sense of danger went off as a black iron staff suddenly shot at him from his blindspot. The Counter Guardian spun and summoned the last projection he was capable of using. The force of the broadsword he swung – capable of slaying even dragons met its match in the indestructible durability of the Ruyi Jingu Bang. The deciding factor was when the relatively beign spheres of energy came slamming into Emiya's body.

Their harmlessness failed to trigger the appropriate responses in Emiya's mind.

The pain caused his body to twitch as his rigid control faded. The motion was enough for the willful staff to parry the broadsword. With his guard now wide open, it was easy for the staff to pin the Counter Guardian down on the ground as the weapon grew wider than Emiya was tall.

The river around the cavern suddenly flared with bright light.

…

All throughout the world, Mankind felt themselves sighing collectively as one as those lurking to strike in the shadows began to pull back. The dawn of the new day eased the acute pain of several of the more sensitive and ease the strangley troubled minds countless more.

In one particular school in England, a recently returned professor found himself stumbling into the broad chest of a particularly hawkish looking man. "Waver." The pale skinned man gazed down at him with sharp crimson eyes beneath a swept back spikey layer of hair. "Where are you going in such a rush, hm?"

The dark haired professor nervously licked his lips. "W-wizard Marshall..."

Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg smirked. "You can call me Zelretch."

"Ah..." Waver briefly wondered why he hadn't been allowed the luxury to use his title first too. Then again...

The tangible aura of magical power about Zelretch's figure lazily curled about him.

"What makes a Heroic Spirit, Waver?" Zelretch stepped back to give Waver breathing room so he could answer. The dark haired man hesistated. He really needed to try and get a hold of Kiritsugu to find out what had happened before Iskander had sent him away, but the magus didn't dare walk off on the Wizard Marshall himself.

"Power..." Waver began. Thoughts of his dear friend Iskander and their battles together in the last Holy Grail War entered his mind. "Intelligence..." He thought of how the red haired giant had almost won the King of Knights, Arturia, to his side. "Charisma..."

The army of Ionioi Hetairoi clashing against Excalibur. The power of two of history's greatest legends fighting against one another. "Legend." Waver shook the old memories of Excalibur's golden light off.

"_Mystery._" Zelretch responded with a nod. "Legend and mystery elevates a person who does the impossible to godhood." He smirked. "Do you know why we don't have Heroes anymore?" The Wizard Marshall pressed.

"Uhm...since the turn of the nineteenth...?" Waver awkwardly tried to guess the correct era in his nervousness. The magus continued on seeing Zelretch continue to look at him evenly. "Century...Mankind can't perform impossible tasks that overturn fate without assistance from the World. We use mostly manufactured weapons as well. You're not Hero material unless...uhm...unless you're using something unique, I guess? Or something with history to it?"

Zelretch smiled at Waver's attempts. They were amusing in a way. "Mystery plays a lot of it as well. In the new era, we analyze mystery until we know every single last detail. We don't believe. We know." The Wizard Marshall mused. His eyes glanced to the east. "So..." He began ever so casually. "What name did you hear?"

Waver, in the midst of a mindset to respond and distracted by his own musings, automatically responded. "Emiya." He gasped in surprise as he looked at the gray haired man.

"I heard Shirou." Zelretch grinned as he raised the crystal sword named after himself. "Would you say that pulling a soul free from an endless afterlife is an impossible task, don't you think?"

"Wait..."

"Let's go see about renewing some ties with the magi of Japan, Waver. We should go ahead and ensure that enough people *know* to finish the job." Before the dark haired man could respond, they were both swept away in a burst of kaleidoscopic light.

…

That morning greeted a lot of early risers. Countless numbers of people gazed towards the east. Somewhere in the very back of their minds, they could hear a shared name resonate deep within their hearts.

Shirou Emiya.

The some sensitive of people amongst the crowd idly began to wonder. Stories of impossible actions were mused on and dissected in the back of millions of people's minds.

One person would tell the story about how Shirou Emiya had overturned a young man's bitter fate into a hopeful new future. Another told about an endless wasteland filled with foul abominations and of the two people who had ventured out into it to restore life. There were stories about the man defeating much more powerful foes and winning through deceit. Others mentioned about how even when he was defeated in turn, he always came back.

It was the story about a person who had pulled themselves up and become a Hero ...because he wanted to see everyone around him smile.

And that story...deserved to be told.

…

The massive cavern above Emiya's head quaked as the a wall of light rose from the river surrounding him and the staff pinning him to the ground. Lines of circuitry glowed beneath him as the stone walls collapsed along with parts of the ceiling. More and more of the sky was revealed as multiple pillars of kaleidoscopic light shot upwards into the starry abyss above.

Emiya gritted his teeth as he tried with all his might to press the staff back, but without his prana reinforcing him he was far too weak. He hesistated as he felt the air saturated with mana from the depths of that river.

'If I have that...' Emiya thought. The thought was taunting. He could shove this off and destroy his target.

"..._Trace On_." The man signed his own undoing with those two words. The Counter Guardian felt his very sense of self burn for the second time in his existence. He squirmed and howled beneath the rapidly shrinking black iron staff. His dark hands clawed at the ground as his magic circuits were flooded completely past their maximum capability.

The flow just kept pouring outwards from there and soaked into his body thoroughly. Sparks danced in front of Emiya's eyes as his nerves twisted with pain from excess energy. That's when he felt something within him...wrench.

Shirou Emiya could see once again. The trembling man's screams suddenly cut off. His gray eyes lost the dull glaze that had been covering them from the moment he had been summoned. He glanced to the side as another part of the cavern collapsed.

The black iron staff he had been fighting...pulled back as the cavern's intense light started flickering.

Something...was wrong. Shirou could immediately tell as the circuit pattern of light died down to a dim glow. The white haired man swept up to his feet and gazed at the staff. "Take me to ..." A flash of an intense set of sherry eyes entered his mind. "Myself."

The image of the staff began to grow hazy. It bobbed up and down once before shooting off. Shirou Emiya kept his eyes trained on the weapon. His eyes continued gazing at the weapon, but no matter what he did he wasn't able to understand it. The basic issue was clouded by trying to figure out what was the original weapon amongst several altered materials. Once that was solved, he attempted to analyze the crystal sword, but that proved difficult with the kaleidoscopic energy surrounding it.

Shirou Emiya's mind and eyes ached.

"Don't think about it too hard." A wry voice called out to Emiya. Archer...Shirou Urobuchi... casually waved at Emiya from the center of a magical circle. A string of prana shot out of the man's hand and wrapped around the ghostly looking staff before it shattered.

Urobuchi snatched up the chinese manuscript and Zelretch. He released the book and allowed it to fly off under its own power. "Especially here." The man smiled, but he clearly looked to be on his last legs. The reality marble the two stood in began to shatter.

Towers of glass and stone toppled in the horizon. The jungle around them faded in and out of sight. Everything gained a hazy look to it as even the stars above began to fracture. As they did, glances of rainbow colored cogs appeared.

"Why...?" Emiya gazed away from the devastation to look at Urobuchi. "I didn't mean to save you for you to do this to yourself." His heart ached as he looked at the darkly clad version of himself.

Urobuchi smiled. "This is my path..." His sherry eyes sparkled as he held the shining crystal sword between his hands. "**I regret nothing!**" He pitched back and threw the crystal sword high into the sky. The weapon kept its momentum going as it vanished once it touched the starry sky.

'Fuck your bullshit, Gaia.' He clasped hands with Emiya as they were both consumed by a bright white light.

* * *

_Wise up!_

Mizuki

[Craft of the Faithful]

Owner: Koji Ishi

Type: Anti-Unit

Rank: B

Range: 6-8

Maximum number of targets: 1

A Noble Phantasm with an always changing form. It was carved from the preserved remains of the dogwood that made up the object that took the life of a future Heroic Spirit who preached to the masses in the name of his God. Many miracles were attributed to his name during his lifetime and beyond, and these mysteries have sunk deep into the grain of the wood over time.

Having gained the ability to repel the undead when brandished or annihilate them if used as a stake, it became one of the Church's main go to weapons against the menace of Dead Apostles in their world. However, enough of the weapons were destroyed eventually that the Church began to worry about the very distinct possibility that they would run out of armaments. To that end, the Church commissioned several new artifacts to be forged using small slivers of the remaining wood as their cores.

This was one of them. Made out of the finest material by a japanese blacksmith, he experimented with reinforcement magic to find the weaknesses in each stage of his design and then improve upon them as much as he could in response. The Phantasm's normal mode - a cross shaped boomerang, was the final product of his work. With a gylph carved within it to grant the weapon a razor sharp edge when thrown at the undead, it can easily cleave through any defense they wield in conjuction with the abilities of the the crystal orb in the center of the cross. The sliver of dogwood there extends an aura to bind the target in a same flash of flash of light that's generated when the weapon is thrown.

If you gaze upon that light, you are bound to the spot for a few moments.

In the most dangerous of scenarios, it also contains an self destruct command woven into the artifact's central glyph. Only the user can invoke the command, but it will detonate the core in a burst of divine energy in every direction.

"_I swing the sword that will banish this long night!_"

...

"Huh..." Shirou idly poked at the window displaying the information on the cross he had used to purify Ilya with. His transparent finger slipped through the holographic window. "What the heck is going on here?" The teenager muttered.

Several more windows, each listening information called 'Wise Ups' scattered around the black and red void.

Shirou cracked his neck as he shoved his hands into his pockets. The magus slouched a bit as he started walking forwards. He was able to see the wide hole in his white and blue t-shirt with his terrible posture.

"It's been ruined. Forever!" The teenager overdramatically wailed. His call seemed to draw the attention of a wandering window. The head sized screen floated over towards him and swayed from one side of his head to the other. Almost like an eager puppy. Shirou tried to wave it away, but it kept persisting. "Fine. Go ahead and show me what you want."

"Shirou and Archer's Excellent Adventure" Score Card:

Life Saved.

NTR End Avoided.

"Reinforcement of a lifetime of deviancy for Ilya" Achievement Unlocked.

Ilya Route Opened.

"Eye of the Taiga Dojo Survivalist" Achievement Unlocked.

"Goddamned Magi. Logic. Logic *nowhere*" Achievement Unlocked.

"[s]Card Games[/s]Servant Duels on Motorcycles" Achievement Unlocked.

Rider Flag Gained.

Sakura Route Opened.

"Knight Rider" stage - S rank.

Resident Evil – Fuyuki City Route Opened.

Saber Flag Gained.

"Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A DDOS Attack" Achievement Unlocked.

Rin Flag Gained.

"Avoided Harvesting Little Sister." Achievement Unlocked.

"Jack of All Trades, Master of None." Achievement Unlocked.

Ilyasviel Flag Gained.

Herakles' Friendship.

"Diplomacy? In **my** Holy Grail War?" Achievement Unlocked.

Lancer's Friendship.

"This is your Holy Grail War on Starcraft." Achievement Unlocked.

Iskander's Friendship.

"Glad someone else is hot for teacher. He won't plan ways to murder me." Achievement Unlocked.

Bazette Flag Gained.

"Super Servant Wars" stage – Battle Mastery attained!

"One Path, Infinite Destinations." Achivevement Unlocked.

"No Man Left Behind." Achievement Unlocked.

"For Someone Else's Glory." Achivement Unlocked.

Saber Route Opened.

Angra Mainyu **de-**%^t2U=I*&!**-layed**!

Shirou felt a heavy breath on the back of his neck. The boy calmly walked through the window that was in his way. Heavy, lumbering footsteps followed after him after a delay of a few moments. The magus casually glanced around at all the windows around him.

"Your work?"

"**...yes.**"

The redhead felt a shudder run down his spine as the word was breathed down his neck again. He glanced upwards as his eyes caught onto two more specific windows that buzzed past. Fortunately he had been focusing his gaze at the right level.

_Wise Up!_

Miyu Inui

….

Alice Naituro-nee-Urobuchi

….

"...how long have you been spying on me?" Shirou asked. He remembered the day of his mother's funeral. The teenager would never forget the patch of black sky overlooking the cemetary.

A throaty, wet chuckle answered him. "**Do you want to know?**"

Shirou shivered. He bit his lip as he felt the breathing on the back of his head speed up.

"I'm not going to let you out." Shirou promised. The burning on the back of his left hand still contained his final Command Spell.

"**I know. That makes it more fun.**"

The magus nervously licked his lips as he walked past the sea of windows and out into hell. The chaotically rolling sea of red and black stretched out as far as the eye could see.

"**The charge you gathered from Arturia will not last forever.**" A sibilant snicker caressed his ear. "**I will have you once Avalon falls.**"

"Pfft." Shirou lifted both of his hands up to his face. His left still possessed the final Command Spell he wielded. He could see faint motes of kaleidoscopic light on his right hand. They were useless so long as he was directing everything towards keeping the majority of his body in the fairy realms, though. "I just have to wait until they pull me out."

"**...can you believe in them?**" Angra Mainyu wondered. His voice soundedly genuinely curious.

A pause.

"**You're not sure.**" Angra Mainyu gloated. He laughed before he continued. "**Why don't you just look back? You can at least believe I'll stand behind my words!**"

Shirou mumbled something beneath his breath.

"**What?**"

"Never look back." Shirou's voice grew louder. He slouched a bit more as he started walking forwards.

"**Haaa...but we all have to play our roles.**" Angra Mainyu chided. "**You were sacrificed for ...two, was it? Or was it more? I answer the wishes of my beloved humans.**"

"...Never look back." The magus insisted as he began to lengthen his strides. "One doesn't have to die for two. One thousand don't have to die for a million."

"**Ah, but isn't that vain to think that way? It's the height of childishness to think everyone will get ****a happy ending.**"

"That way of thinking...it's too cruel." Shirou shook his head. "It's too heavy of a burden."

"**Heh...but Divine Spirits have those duties thrust upon us by humans. They don't wish to carry the burdens so they make 'God' and 'Hero' to carry the burden. Do you honestly believe you can change people? They'll always take the easy way out.**"

"...maybe not today." Shirou stopped.

Angra Mainyu hesistated. "**...good, then. You're learning. Now...turn around.**"

Shirou broke out into a jog. "But maybe someday!"

"**Wait!**"

The teenager felt the heavy presence on the back of his neck lift slightly. His jogs broke out into an all out run as his eyes focused straight ahead. In the far distance, he could see a silver tower jutting high above the rolling seas.

"Angra Mainyu! So long as people have the will and the heart to keep looking...someday we will all be happy!"

The Divine Spirit snarled from somewhere far behind him. "**Then let us put this hypothesis to a challenge, shall we? Let's see if your basic philosophy can stand the test of time!**"

Shirou laughed, "I've survived every message and imageboard under the sun! These are such pathetic attempts at throwing me off. I'll give you a zero out of ten for the joke alone!" His laughter caused Angra Mainyu to growl warningly behind him. "All of Humanity's Evils...**do you have enough trolls to stop me?**"

* * *

_Wise Up!_

_**Look be̸͢͞h̸̡͘͜͢í̧̨͡ nd you.**_

..._**  
**_

_Profile restored from backup..._

Archer groaned as he sat up. A sea of endless stars stretched as far as the eye could see in front of his gaze. He was currently finding himself sitting down on top of a silver path that stretched out endlessly both in front and behind him. The section he sat on was heavily charred and dented.

The white haired man glanced around with sherry eyes as he dusted his torn and cut apart black vest and bloody black pants. Shirou frowned as he squatted a bit to rip off chunks from his black pants to even them out.

Turning them into nice black shorts.

Archer sighed and ran his hand through his hair tiredly.

"Is someone there?" A female voice asked. The faintly prismatic walls surrounding the silver path kept travelers from falling off into the starry abyss below, but it always paid to be wary.

The adult prepped his criminally empty magic circuits before carefully responding. "Yes." He paused. "Can I help you?" Shirou called out.

Archer visibly relaxed as he saw a teenager with long black hair dressed in a purple and white school uniform approach him. Her flats softly clicked against the ground as her hair swayed behind her like a curtain.

'Well, no need to worry about being overpowered here.'

The aura of magic around her made him leery. Even if magic was his strength, he'd rather not have to get struck with it more than he had to. Especially after today.

The young girl completely stepped out of the shadows cast by the void. Recognition crossed Archer's face. "Oh...it's you." He lifted his hands up to his face and touched them. Yeah, wearing the right face this time. "Is this the first or latest time?" The magus's eyes lowered over towards the silver shield she wielded over her wrist.

The information on the item's abilities were updated in his reality marble.

'Wait...this history is different?'

Both the girl and his eyesbrows raised in synch.

"Do I know you?" Both of them asked at the same time.

The girl's purple eyes dimmed as she flicked her long hair. Seemed like a nervous habit, really. "I'm looking for a girl."

"What a coincedence. I'm looking for a guy." Archer smiled. "Two sets of eyes might halve the amount of time we have to look."

"...okay." The girl stilled as she let her long hair drop back behind her. "What's your name?"

"Shirou Urobuchi." The white haired man cheerfully responded as the two of them began to walk together. "Wouldn't imagine the week I've had so far."

The girl looked at his shorts and then up at his smudged dress shirt and vest. "Try me."

"Well...it started when I put on my robe and wizard hat..."

* * *

An orange haze in reality released Gilgamesh and Caren. A vast armory full of gold and magical and divine artifacts of all measure appeared behind the two. One of the piles of gold also had an empty eyed blue haired teenager covered lazily with some robes. The robes were stained with filth and blood.

The rip in reality was closed with a mere thought from Gilgamesh. Now that the vault of the King of Hero's own Gate of Babylon were closed, they silently moved from their exit point towards the resting place of the Grand Holy Grail. A large amount of black mud was collected at the bottom of a circular bowl and was swiftly vanishing down a deep crack back into the earth.

A small figure squirmed at the edge of the black mud.

Both Gilgamesh and Caren traded a look before the blond moved forwards. He could hear faint crying coming from the smeared body of the dark skinned newborn babe. Gilgamesh reached down and casually plucked the child up by the back of his neck.

The baby began to wail anew as he turned russet brown eyes on the King of Heroes. Dark red markings appeared on the baby's dark skin as a feeling of power descended on the unimpressed Hero.

"Ah...how fortunate for Father." Caren breathed as she stepped next to Gilgamesh. The blond snorted and wiped the grail's mud off the newborn. He casually handed the baby over to the white haired girl.

The nun scrambled as she barely held onto the baby as it began to squirm in her hands. The baby cooed as he looked up at Caren with bright eyes.

Gilgamesh silently gazed out towards the direction the other Servants had gathered. An eager grin was on his lips. "Now I've seen everything they can do. Let the game continue." He murmured as he slapped his hands together. Golden plate mail armor suddenly covered him from neck to toe.

* * *

_Wise Up!_

Class – Archer

Master – Rin Tohsaka

True Name – Shirou Urobuchi

Sex – Male

Height/Weight – 184 cm/68 kg

Alignment – Neutral

Strength: E

Mana: B+

Endurance: D

N. Phantasm: Unknown

Agility: B

Luck: C

Class Skills:

Magic Resistance: B

Independent Action: EX

Personal Skills:

Magecraft: B+

For Someone's Glory (EMIYA): A

Self Modification: B

Noble Phantasms:

Infinity Library Archives

[The Endless Power of the Spoken and Written Word]

Owner: Shirou Urobuchi

Type: Support

Rank: E ~ A+++

Maximum number of targets: Unknown

_**Data corrupted.**_

**Signal lost.**

**Attempting to locate new signal.**

* * *

"My name is Miyu Inui. Ehehe. I had to uhm...transfer schools because of an issue with my last school. I hope we're all good friends here, though!"

"Nothing but strange foreigners and weirdos transferring in, huh? ...Miyako?"

"Her eyes look like Shiki-niichan's eyes."

"Hm...he's moving into that big mansion on the hills soon, isn't he?"

"...yes. Yes he is."

"...I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for in this situation."

* * *

_To Be Continued – Apostles in Leather Pants_

A/N: So, it's been a long and bumpy ride. Thank you all very much for following me this long. The next project will be a continuation of this setting in the Tsukihime portion of the world. The cast of Wizard Hat will be included to a degree here, and their fates will be revealed. Thank you for the reviews, and if there was anything that particularly amused you or that you think needed improvement, just drop a review and let me know.

Until next time, Troll Long and Prosper.


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